Eyes
by summermangos
Summary: Eren had been regarded as a 'monster' and 'secret weapon' of the survey corps. Little did he know he wasn't the only one, and this is her story. (I'm really sorry for the crappy summary please read and find out!)
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

* * *

"Geez, shorty you didn't have to be so rough! He lost a tooth!" Hange scolded.

He just 'tchs'.

She turns to Eren once again, "Ne, ne open your mouth let me see every tooth!"

Eren awkwardly opens his mouth. Hange gasps. "... It grew back."

It was really silent after that. Till finally Hange broke the silence, "Geez, I wish she'd heal as fast as you!"

Eren's POV:

'She? Was there another person here? Is she from the trainee squad? Maybe I know her! Is she a Titan shifter too? Heal? Did captain beat her up too?' Millions of questions ran through my mind. "Um... She?..." I finally spoke up, "...Was there another person on trial?"

"Yeah. Although her trial was just a huge misunderstanding, almost a complete waste of time. " Levi bluntly responded, "and thank God for that. I don't want to deal with some other little shit, that can control titans." He glares.

"What is she then?.. What was she on trial for I mean?" I ask curious.

"You sure are talking a lot today you annoying brat." Captain responds clearly irritated. I flinch slightly.

"Now, now Shorty! Don't be so mean! You can't blame him for his curiosity!" Hange says, "I'm just as curious as you are!" She sighs,"I just can't wait to see what she can do with those lovely little eyes of hers!" She excitedly replies. 'Eyes huh? Is that part of her power?' I think to myself. She gasps. "I should go get her, so she can officially meet all of us! She is in our custody after all!" She excitedly suggests.

"We should still let her rest, she's still injured after all, and I don't think her trial today really helped.." Petra suggests.

"But her injuries are from the battle weeks ago! And I checked she's almost healed! Plus all shorty did was scare her a little and cut her hair!" Hange responds refusing to give up. Wait, what? Cut her hair? How does that correlate? I start to feel a little guilty for bringing it up, I go to apologize and say that 'it's ok, I'll just try to meet her later..' When corporal Levi cuts me off,

"WOULD YOU SHUT UP?" He sighs, "We have to leave in the morning anyway, she should be fine and ready by then, interview and introduce yourselves to her if you must at that time. UNDERSTOOD?"

"Yes, sir!" Everyone replies.

So tomorrow it is...


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

* * *

~Time skip~ 3rd POV

The ride to the old recon corps HQ was a relatively quiet one, with the exception of Auroro trying to intimidate Eren. In the midst of his talking Eren turns and sees Levi, Petra, and someone else with their hood up and over their eyes. Must be the girl Hanji was talking about Eren thought. He sees Levi glaring at him and quickly turns forward again. "So you better not let Levi Heichou babys-" Auroro's horse's foot slips and he bites his mysterious girl holds her hand to her mouth to try to contain her laughter, but fails miserably. Auroro glares at her, causing her to laugh even harder. Soon everybody except Levi and Auroro are laughing along with her.

"Would you all stop laughing?" Levi ,clearly irritated, says.

Everyone regains their composure, after a few laughs escaping here and there and clearing of throats.

"Sorry..." The girl murmurs slightly ashamed.

Levi hums in response, while Auroro won't stop glaring at her.

At the HQ

Petra scolds Auroro for trying to imitate Levi and trying to intimidate the newbies. As everyone gets situated, Levi evaluates the grounds and is utterly disgusted, so orders everyone to 'get cleaning!'

Time skip to cleaning, Mysterious girl's POV:

I start cleaning the room I was assigned vigorously, gotta leave a good impression right? Without even realizing it I start humming a song, then I start full blown singing it. "... It's calling it out, it's time to be free~" I finish and sigh. "Done!"

"That's quite the voice you have there!", I hear a cheery voice say.

I jump and blush red from embarrassment and look down, "H-how long have you been there?" I stutter.

"The whole time ^^," she replies and walks forward, "I'm Petra Ral by the way" she holds a hand out to me.

"Josephine.." I reply but refuse to look up, due to embarrassment and fear of Petra being afraid of me and calling me a monster. I've been called that too many times in these fifteen years of my life, I know to take caution.

I see her draw her hand away, and I look up slightly, she's frowning. Crap.

"I-I'm sor-" I start to apologize, before she interrupts me, "it's ok you know ^^ you can look me in the face. You've proved yourself in court that you can control your powers, you seemed nice too when I went to help Hange out with you. I don't really know much about you though, so how about it? Friends?"

I was shocked at her words, 'should I?' I thought, 'she actually made an effort to talk to me and still wants to make the effort to get to know me.. She seems nice enough too...' I slowly look up, and she smiles I can see the sincerity in her eyes and smile. I smile back, "yeah I'd like that," I softly say, still shy and unsure, "thank you."

Petra smiles yet again, "not at all ^^"

"Oi!" Captain Levi alerts us, Petra quickly pretends to be sweeping up in the room.

"You're supposed to be cleaning, not talking!" He scolds

I flinch, and quickly salute, "I-I've finished sir!"

He raises an eyebrow at me, and stares at me I just awkwardly stare back at him. Weird... He looks really familiar...

"I'll be the judge of that." He says, I step aside and out of the door to let him evaluate it.

He nods his head contently, "good job Joy."

WAIT. The people who ever called me that were, my brother, Eren, Armin, Mikasa, and the group that took my brother and me in all those years ago when we first became orphaned... Who were they again?.. Izzy-nee san, Uncle farlan, and... "OLD MAN *BANCHOU!" I accidentally blurt out. Petra and Levi look at me confusedly.

"I beg your pardon?" Levi glares at me.

"I-I'm sorry, it's just you remind me a lot of someone that took care of me a long time ago.." I quickly apologize, I guess it isn't him..

He tchs and walk forward, I seem him raise his hand and I flinch. But to your surprise he pats my head. "Long time no see, you annoying peppy brat," he softly says.

I look up from my feet and can't help but smile and tear up a bit. Without thinking I hug him. He clears his throat. "Whoops, sorry ^^;" I quickly apologize. He walks towards the door, stops and says,"This'll be your room, you and Petra clean downstairs, and hurry up. It's almost time for supper." He finishes and walks out the door. Petra just stood there dumbfounded. I laugh a little and poke her cheek breaking her from her confused state, "I'll explain later, now come on we have to clean ^^"

***Banchou = Japanese slang term for delinquent/gang leader **


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 **

* * *

time skip to suppertime

3rd POV: Josephine walks in with Petra, and everyone just stares at her. She squirms and tries to hide herself behind Petra to no avail, due to Petra being so short and herself being tall. Petra just laughs a bit at her actions and pulls her forward, "In case, you all didn't know this is Josephine, she's the one with the special eye ability," Petra introduces the shy girl. Nervous she looks down at her feet.

"Joy!..." Eren says shocked.

The nervous girl gaze shoots up, to see a familiar boy with piercing green-turquoise eyes and shaggy brown hair "Eren..." She murmurs equally shocked. He suddenly hugs her tight, "I'm so glad you're ok.."

She smiles and hugs him back, "I'm glad your ok too.." She playfully punches him in the back, "you scared me ya know! I thought you died..." She said burying her face in his shoulder.

He smiles at her concern, "but I'm not right? Mikasa and Armin are ok too. "

She sighs in relief.

He breaks away from the hug and pats her head smiling, "Geez, you've always been such a worry wort," he stops patting her head and notices her hair is no longer long, but short, up to her the nape of her neck like Mikasa's. "Joy... Your hair.. When did you cut it?"

She fiddles with the ends of her hair, "at my trial," she points to Levi, "he cut it."

He looks at Levi, "I did it the same reason I beat the fucking teeth out of you, too prove a point. They wanted to execute her? Fine. I'll take the first step. Get it know you brats?...And could you both stop this love fest? It's disgusting." He bluntly says.

They both quickly sit down. Josephine sits next to Petra and in front of Eren, both blushing at the Captain's comment.

"Now, now Heichou, they were just hugging! It's not like they were making out or something!" Petra defends Josephine.

Eren and Josephine blush even harder at the comment.

"They are obviously close and haven't seen each other in a long time. I know if I saw my father we'd have the same reaction!" Petra finishes.

Levi just 'tchs' unwilling to argue anymore.

"By the way ,Joy," is it ok if I call you that too?" Petra continues, "how do you know the captain AND Eren anyways?"

Levi's eyes widen slightly before he regains his composure, while Eren's eyes remain wide, 'she met Captain personally before in the past?!' He thought.

Josephine sighs, "Yes, you may call me Joy, and it's a loong story," she turns to Levi and Eren, "that is if they let me tell it." They both nod, curious about her past with the other.

Josephine sighs, "I met Captain first, so I guess I'll start with him..." She turns to said person and asks, "first and for most, may I call you old man *banchou again?"

_Banchou = Japanese slang term for delinquent/gang leader_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

* * *

Everyone snickers.

"**No. You may not.**" Levi says sternly

"Awww why not?" Josephine asks.

"**_Because_** I am no longer a _thug_," Levi replies clearly annoyed, "And I may be old, but I'm not **_that _**old!"

"Then what _do_ I call you?!" Josephine asks crossing her arms.

Levi's eyebrow twitches in irritation, "Now listen here Joy, _**you**_ are a **_cadet._** **_I_** am your **_superior_** Would you like to take a guess?" He said slightly harsh.

Josephine looked him straight in the eye with a serious face and said, "Banchou."

He gave a slight nod," Hm, that's ri- wait..." Realizing what she said he fumed, **"Cadet Joy. If you keep this up you will be running laps!"** He fumed.

The young cadet girl laughed slightly, "Hehe, sorry just wanted to say it one more time before I start calling you Heichou, sir." She replied using formalities this time.

Levi frowned, "Now that's a little too formal," he paused for a moment thinking of what he did want to be called then continued, "You have to call me Heichou and sir in front of other cadets and such, _however_ you may call me something other than that otherwise, understood?" He finished.

"Yes sir!" She replied smiling

'Ahem!' Petra called getting the two's attention again, "May you continue with the story?"

Josephine rubbed the back of her head, "hehe right, let's see where to begin... Well, it all started when the guy, who first adopted my brother and I, was killed..."


	5. Chapter 5

A few eyes widened and many questions were fired, "Where were your parents? What happened to them? Who killed him? Why was he killed?" And so on and so forth. The poor girl was overwhelmed, "Slow down, slow down!" She sighed, "In case you haven't noticed, I'm not from here. I'm from the southern part of the orient. As opposed to the 'main area' of the orient we don't have fair skin, but tan skin instead, but none the less we were prized like most people of the orient however for different reasons the southern half of the orient was filled with the lower class.. Workers, working day in and day out...I don't really remember much... I was so little.. But I remember a bunch of people taking my family and me away... And then my brother and I given to this man. The man we were given to said.. That he was gonna keep us safe from people that wanted to harm us like the people who took our family away... I didn't understand then, but now.. I get it... They tried to sell my family and others off.. Whether to be slaves or something else... But none the less the man kept his promise. He took us to the inner most wall, Sina, and took good care of my big bro and me," she pauses for a moment, smiling slightly at all the good memories.

"However... It was short lived.. When I was about 4 the man the took care of us.. Was arrested.. And sentenced to death... And over something as stupid as 'heresy'. For venturing out of the walls and finding us. For giving people insight and hope of the outside world..."

Everyone's sympathetic eyes were fixed on her, entranced by her story, no one dared to say a word. Not even the two who had known her in the past, surprised to see there was so much more they didn't know.

"Anyway, of course, as kids we couldn't pay for anything, so we were kicked out from where we currently lived with the man and were forced to live in the undergrounds of the city. We lived there for a couple months till Heichou's little trio found us and took us in," she looked at Levi and smiled, gratitude in her eyes, "My brother and I lived with them for three years, till they had to join the survey corps, as a result we were moved to the the outermost wall, Maria, and we lived in Zhiganshina." She then turns to Eren and smiles, the same gratitude in her eyes, "From there we met Eren, Mikasa, and Armin. Eren and Mikasa found my brother and me on the outskirts of town, while collecting firewood. From there they took us in and we lived with them!" She said as she and Eren smiled at all the memories.

"How long did you live with them?" Someone asked.

"Huh? Oh, three years. Up till... Well you know..." Josephine replies, smile fading. She sighs, "well, that's the end of that. " she says smiling slightly again.

It was dead silent for awhile, partially for pity for the girl and partially to mourn the losses in wall Maria.

The silence was broken when Erd started talking about the new expedition to be planned and the new recruits. Worried about how things'll turn it out.

"We got these two unexpected rays of hope," Erd says turning to Eren and Josephine.

"How do your powers work anyway?"

"I'm not really sure it's kinda fuzzy... But I do know that I can transform into a Titan if I harm myself! For example if I bite my hand..." He lifts it to his face, 'Wait! How do I know this?'

"You won't get much out of him other than what's written in the reports. On the other hand.." Levi turns to Josephine, "In all honesty I don't quite know how it works. I can however control it and use it. I guess the way it works is,if I will it, I can use it. But I do remember that the first time I was able to control it... Was when I accepted it." She replied.

"What I'm curious is _what_ is your eye power." Gunther asks aloud.

"I have a lot actually! The main one however is 'nightmare eyes' or the ability for people to see their fears, and if will it, I can see what they fear too."

Levi takes a sip of his tea, "She won't be able to stay put when she sees you two... her meddling could even kill the both of you."

"W-wait she? Who's she?" Eren asks frantic.

Suddenly something slams into the door. Petra opens it.

"Good evening ladies and gentleman of the special unit!" Hanji greets.

"You're early" Levi monotonously says.

"How could I stay put now?!" Hanji excitedly replies, she walk over to Eren and Josephine, "sorry for the wait you two," she says.

"Major Hanji?" Eren asks

"Yup! I'm in charge with experimenting on the two titans captured in the city today, I want you two to help me with that, is that ok?" she asks.

"I can't answer that, I don't have authority over myself you see.." Eren responds so she turns to you, "S-same."

She turns to Levi, "Oi! Levi! What are they scheduled to do tomorrow?"

"Clean the garden and kitchen," Levi says.

"Than it's decided! You're coming with me! I'm counting on you two ok?" She excitedly replies.

"What are Titan experiments anyway?" Eren asks.

"What was that?" Hanji quickly and excitedly says.

"W-what are Titan experiments..." Josephine hesitantly repeats.

"Stop. Don't ask her that!" They hear a voice scold

"No, it's too late! I heard it! That was curiosity in your voices wasn't it?" She excitedly replies eyes sparkling. Everyone starts to get up and leave.

"e-eh?" Josephine softly questions as Hanji takes a seat. 'Fuck,' she thought, 'what did I get myself into?!'


	6. Chapter 6

Josephine's POV:

Fuck. What did I get myself into?! Should I stay?... I might as well stay I mean if I'm gonna be a part of these experiments I need to know right? I listen intently to what Hanji has to say and was utterly amazed. There's so much I didn't know about titans.. She is kinda crazy, but still..I wanna know more! I look over at Eren, his face screams 'WTF.' I stifle a laugh as Hanji explains on.

"Um.. Major Hanji.. How do you remain so carefree around the titans. They're our natural enemy they almost drove us to extinction. I'm sure you've faced them many of times too." Eren asks.

"That's right." Hanji's voice becomes serious. "I've seen many of my comrades eaten by titans. I fought them fueled by anger and hate, but then it happened when I kicked a titans head, it was light. Unnaturally so. It was the same with all the titans body parts. I also heard when you transformed into a Titan the body appeared out of thin air. So I thought, what if the things we're seeing aren't actually there.." Hanji explained.

I sat there in awe. I never thought of it that way before!

"I've fought titans fueled by hatred for years, but I from that day I decided to look at the titans in a new and different perspective. It may be futile, but I'll do it."

I was utterly amazed, Hanji is a lot cooler than I thought... I take a sip of the tea Hanji poured us.

"Major Hanji!" Eren says, interrupting my thoughts, "could you tell us more about the Titan experiments? It might prove useful for tomorrow!" His voice laced with positive determination and slight awe.

"Is that really ok?" Hanji asks slightly shocked.

We both nod.

"R-right I did skip over some things in my summary!" She begins to explain from the beginning, as I look at Eren. His face filled with slight awe and determination. I haven't seen that look in years, I smile and unconsciously stare.

Hanji stops in her explanation, "Oi! Jooo!~ you listening? I know Eren's a Titan too, but we aren't at that part yet!"

I blush and turn away refusing to look at Eren, instead focusing my attention to Hanji... Well maybe a peak couldn't hurt.. I cast a glance his way and I can see him slightly confused, till I see Hanji laugh and tell Eren I was staring. Causing him to blush slightly but the confused look still on his face. I could feel my entire body stiffen and heat up from embarrassment, DAMN IT HANJI!

She explains on and I can feel my eyes starting to droop, fuck! No, don't fall asleep! This could be useful! I lean my face into my hand. "And then Titans don't have any digestive systems-" was the last thing I heard before it went black.


	7. Chapter 7

Eren's POV: I know this stuff already from training! I can't just tell her to stop though, I am the one who told her to explain it to us. Speaking of which I wonder how Joy's fairing with this. I stifle a laugh as I look over she's asleep leaning on her hand! Pfft, she looks like a pug! xD

I can see her face start to slip a little, before I know it I hear a huge 'THUD' and a snore. I put my hand over my mouth to keep me from laughing. Oh, Joy.

Hanji turns to Joy and tries to wake her up to now avail. Giving up she continues to talk about the titans, stuff I already know! I sigh, this is gonna be a loooong night.

~time skip to morning~

I'm. So. Tired.

"So like I said stuff you probably already know right?" Hanji says.

It's over! "Yeah.. I already learned that." I tiredly reply. I look over at Joy, still sleeping. Lucky. I go to wake her up, Till someone runs in yelling someone killed the Titan experiments, beating me to it. Hanji runs out. Leaving me and her alone.

She starts sputtering out nonsense apologizing for falling asleep asking what time it was what'd she missed in Hanji's explanation etc. etc. I can see her blush red from embarrassment. Pfft, and her hair is a mess! "Sleep well bed head?" I tease, smirking slightly.

"Good morning to you too, _Jaeger boy_." she responds sarcastically blushing slightly and fixing her hair. Heh, she looks kinda cute when she blushes.. **WAIT WHAT. **DID I JUST. What am I doing!?

"W-why are ya staring at me?!" She suddenly says breaking me from my thoughts. Shit.

"Nothing! Hanji's Titans got killed.."

"WHAT?! Come on what are waiting for!?" She grabs my hand and we run over to the stables and grab our horses.

~time skip~ 3rd POV.

They arrive at the scene and Hanji is losing her shit. The soldiers are whispering amongst themselves about who the suspects are. Josephine goes to comfort Hanji while Eren stood back dumbfounded. Levi eventually calls everyone back since it's a matter of military police. But not before Erwin asks Eren who he thinks the villain is. Leaving him utterly confused.

* * *

Author's note: Sorry if Eren's kinda ooc u ;


	8. Chapter 8

Due to Hanji's titans being killed Eren and Josephine were put back on their normal cleaning schedules.

**Josephine's POV:** Geez, this is kitchen is huge! Thank Rose that there's only a couple people here, so there's not too big of a mess... I wonder how the others are doing.. Geez, how stupid am I to get captured by the military police so fast? As a matter of fact how stupid am I that I overuse my power and pass out in the middle of fucking battle?! I sigh, prop my elbow on the broom I was using, and run my fingers through my hair. I guess it worked out for the better, I am alive, and at least I ended up in the survey corps. I wonder who's still gonna join... I wonder who's still alive...**No. Stop it Joy**. I slap my hands on my cheeks. It'll be fine! They'll be fine!... Except for your squad that day... They all... **Ugh. Stop it**. Armin and Eren are still alive and Mikasa's bound to be! And, and Sasha, Connie, Crista, Jean, Marco, Reiner, Bertolt, and Annie should be okay! They made top ten! Ymir and Sarah too! They may not have made into top ten, but they're still strong! Yeah! They'll be fine, everyone will be fine!

"Jo!" I felt a hand touch my shoulder, "Do you have a problem listening to me or something? Cause this happened last night too!" It was Major Hanji.

"Sorry Major Hanji! How long have you been there?" I ask.

"About two or three minutes I spent a minute of that trying to get your attention; you've just been standing there staring at nothing! You ok?" She asks.

"Yeah! I'm fine!" I say smiling slightly, "What did you need anyway?"

"Oh! Well I really wanted to test your eye abilities on the Titans, but.. We all now what happened to that.." She trailed off, I go and pat her back. "But, anyway," she starts back up, "I realized I don't know what your other eye abilities are! Or what they do in general; they work on people right?"

I nod.

"Well, I figured you can test them out on me!" She excitedly replies.

"I don't kno-" I was cut short by a cadet running in.

"Major Hanji! There's a fight in the garden!"

The three of us run out to see what's happening.

** At the garden **

There was Banchou and Eren fighting in the garden, a few current cadets of the survey corps and all of the 'Levi unit' was there surrounding the two. No one tried to intervene, even if they did they failed to. Hanji and I push our ways to the front to get a clearer view, and to my surprise it's a fist fight. Banchou, of course, easily fights off Eren, but Eren still (and fails) to land a hit. This kid is whipped as a bitch when it came to superiors. He wouldn't even dare yell at a superior unless something important or extreme was on the line, so for him to actually get in a fist fight with one..

"**Oi!**" I yell, "**What the fuck are you guys doing?!"**

Not even a hint of listening to me. I step up to them, and ask again, **"Care to explain why you two are fighting?"** I suddenly get pushed out of the way and onto the floor by Banchou, "**Stay out of this brat! It isn't your fight!"** He yells at me.

Highly irritated I turn to Hanji, "Oi, Hanji? Ya still wanna see my powers?"

She nods excitedly, "Yes of course!~"

I nod, "so be it then."

**3rd POV:**

Josephine stands up, brushes her self off and says, barely above a whisper, "captivate." Her eyes turn red and suddenly all eyes are on her, even the two who were fighting a couple seconds ago. Levi stops mid punch and looks at her, gripping Eren's collar.

"Would either of you like to explain why you two were fighting?"

"I can sort this out _myself_, Joy." Eren practically hisses.

"Do you see? This brat has no fucking respect." He responds as he goes to swing again.

"Freeze." Josephine quickly says and Levi stops mid punch.

"I can't- Why can't I move? What did you do to me?!"

"Relax Heichou, I'm barely using my powers! You'll be fine as soon as I look away from you!" She cheerily responds. Eren takes this to his advantage and tries to kick Levi off balance only to be stopped by Josephine, with a swift kick to the crotch. He doubles over in pain. As a result of her focusing her attention on the kick Levi becomes unfrozen and tries to swing at Josephine. She quickly dodges and swiftly kicks him in the crotch too. He kneels in pain.

"Will you guys quit it already? This is getting _really_ tiresome." Josephine says irritation clear in her voice.

Levi 'tchs' and gets up, **"Stable duty. Both of you. Now." **He orders and walks away. Everyone stands there for a moment looking at Josephine with awe, before dispersing. Hanji pats her on the back laughing, "That was quite the show! To my understanding you have nine abilities, right? I can't wait to see the rest!" She then walks off, leaving only Josephine and a battered Eren leaning against a wall.

Josephine walks over and holds a hand out to him, "Come on, we gotta go clean the stables."

He slaps her hand away, "_I don't want your pity. I can take of my self." _He hisses at her.

**_"What's your problem Jaeger?!" _**She yells back, getting angry (she only ever called him Jaeger when she got mad at him.)

**"No. What's ****_your_**** problem?! You didn't have to do that, I could've handled it!" **Eren retorts.

**"I beg to differ! You were getting ****_your ass beat_**** Jaeger! I'm just looking out for you!" **She yells back.

**"Well you don't have to! I don't need your pity! I don't need your help! I'm not a child! You're just like Mikasa! I wish you two would just butt out and ****_leave me alone!_****!" **

Josephine stands there dumbfounded for a second before she 'tchs', _"Fine._ Suit yourself Jaeger. " she walks away, and pulls the hood of her survey corps cloak over her head. Very softly she says, "_concealing eyes._" And she disappears from sight.


	9. Chapter 9

3rd POV:

"Stupid Jaeger, stupid banchou! I'm just trying to help them out and they get all mad at me!" Josephine grumbles to herself as she walks towards the stables. Causing cadets to murmur amongst themselves about a 'ghost', but she's to pissed off to care... or remember she used her eye ability to become invisible. Causing even more poor cadets to be scared out of their wits when they see a shovel and brush move on it's own.

There was suddenly a knock at Levi's door.

"State your name and business." He monotonously replies.

"It's (insert name here), Sir! There's some odd activity going on at the stables!"

Levi opens the door to his office, "Odd activity? How so?" He asks.

"Paranormal sir.." The cadet replied unsure he would believe.

Levi raises an eyebrow, but says that he'll check on it.

meanwhile back at the stables

By this time Josephine's already done half of the stables, and Eren has already arrived shocked at the display, but cautiously cleaning the others. Every so often glancing back at the 'magical' cleaning supplies.

Levi's POV:

I finally arrive at the scene and there it is. The greatest thing ever. Cleaning supplies, cleaning by them selves! I don't care if this is some ghost or something I might just let it stick around! At least it cleans (and pretty well might I add) unlike some other people around here.

"C-corporal?" A cadet shakily calls my attention. Right. This thing scares the shit out of my comrades. How are we all supposed to function if half of us are scared shitless over something as simple as chores? I sigh, what a damn shame. I wanted to keep this 'Casper the cleaning ghost'. I step forward and call it's attention, "Oi! Casper the cleaning ghost! I appreciate the great cleaning and all, but the other cadets are shitting their pants about it and can't do _their_ chores. So I have to ask you to leave."

The cleaning supplies stop moving and suddenly a voice speaks laughing slightly, "Pfft! Casper the cleaning ghost? Thanks for the compliment and all sir, but what the fuck are you talking about?"

I know that voice anywhere. I guesstimate where Joy's cheeks are and pinch hard. Suddenly she appears in front of me wincing at the pain at her cheeks.

"What the heck banchou!" She squeals.

"Don't you 'what the heck' me! And it's Corporal! What the hell are you doing?! Do you have any idea how many cadets you've made shit their pants because of this stunt you pulled?! Why the fuck were you invisible?!" I question her, pinching and pulling at her cheeks. A muffled response comes out, so I stop pinching and pulling at Joy's now reddened cheeks as she brings a hand up to rub them.

"I forgot I used my concealing eye ability sir.." Joy replies.

Here we go again with the eye abilities! She's only started using them today and I'm already sick of them! She hasn't even used then all yet either! "That's it. **You are no longer permitted to use your eye abilities unless authorized to! Do you understand?"**

"Yes sir!.. I'm sorry sir." Joy replies, softly saying the last part. I 'tch'. I swear she can be such a dumbass sometimes. I look over what she's done and to my surprise she's done almost half of them. Where's that Titan brat? He was supposed to help! I back up and pan over the stables, ah there he is, all the way at the fucking end I swear. "Eren. You were supposed to help her, so why is it that you haven't even finished _one_?"

"I came late sir.." The brat replies. I tch yet again, this fucking brat. I see shitty glasses walks over to me and lean down to my level.

"Hey shorty, bet your wondering why Jo used her abilities and why Eren was late!" She whispers excitedly.

"Explain." I monotonously reply.

"Well-" she then explains how Joy and the Titan brat had an argument and how he wished she'd leave him alone and shit. I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. I don't have time for this shit. "Joy! Get ready, we're going to patrol soon. Eren! Clean the rest of the fucking stables and afterwards get ready, your patrolling too. When I get back we're leaving."

"Yes sir!" They both reply saluting.

I go to walk away but I hear someone call out 'sir'. I turn my head; it's the Titan shit.

"I just wanted to apologize sir, for both being late and the fight." He replies. I nod, acknowledging the apology, "We both know I'm not the only one you should apologize to." I then turn and walk away. Geez.

3rd POV:

All the other cadets go back to their designated chores; talking amongst themselves about about all the weird events that ensued today. Josephine sighs and faceplams at all the unwanted attention she ended up drawing to herself. Eventually regaining her composure she looks for her horse. 'Just great!' She sarcastically thought as she found her horse in the stable Eren was cleaning. She sighs again and walks toward the stable.

"Joy, I'm sorry.. No, no that's to vague... I'm sorry for yelling at you.. No, no she's probably mad at me more than just cause of that.." Eren continued to murmur various ways to apologize to Josephine. Said girl laughs lightly at the display of the confident and impulsive Eren trying to carefully pick out words.

"Joy!" He says shocked, "Did you here all of that?"

"Yeah. A+ for effort Jaeger boy."

"Does that mean you forgive me? You did call me Jaeger boy, and I know you only call me that when your slightly mad at me or annoyed." He asked.

She was silent for a moment, but then finally answered, "try again later."

"Joy, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry! I didn't mean what I said! I don't want you out of life! I just- I just didn't want you to worry!" Eren suddenly says throwing Josephine off. Before she could reply Petra runs over, "Eren! Joy! Just a heads up patrolling starts really soon!"

"Ah, thanks Petra" Eren and Josephine say. She smiles and runs back off to do her duties.

Josephine turns to Eren and smiles slightly, "You heard her, you better get cleaning."

"Right... So are you still mad at me or-" Eren is interrupted when Josephine walks away and waits for the signal to start patrolling without a single word. Leaving a very confused Eren behind.

Time skip to when cadets arrive (3rd POV)~

Josephine and Eren were cleaning near the stables, when the new recruits pass by.

"Mikasa! Armin!" Eren calls as he runs towards them.

"Eren!" They happily reply and then to him.

"Are you hurt? Did they dissect you or something? Did that shorty hurt you? He went too far at your trial! I'll get him back for hurting you!" Mikasa frantically said inspecting him.

"Mikasa! Mikasa! I'm fine! Geez!" Eren said reassuringly.

Suddenly Josephine appears propping an elbow on Eren's shoulder, "Ehhh, I help you from getting your ass beat and you get mad at me, but when she acts like a frantic mother and threatens to beat up corporal for you; you don't get mad? Meanie." She monotonously says pouting.

"Joy!" The trio say in unison as Mikasa and Armin go to hug her.

She smiles wide as she hugs them tight, "I missed you guys, I missed you guys so much! I'm glad your ok!"

"We do too! We thought you died!" Mikasa exclaims.

"No one ever found you after or during the battle, we thought you died! What happened to you Joy?!" Armin asks.

"And what's this I hear about Eren getting beat up? What happened?" Mikasa asks.

Josephine hesitates for a moment, "Well... I have eye abilities.. And I may have used them too much at the battle of Trost.. And I may have been captured by the military police..."

**"You What!?" **Mikasa and Armin say in unison.

"It's kinda hard to explain... Anyway!" Josephine says desperate to change the subject, "As for the fight, you're gonna have to ask Jaeger boy here!" She says patting his back.

Suddenly Jean shows up, "What are you guys doing? They're still explaining the-" he stops in his tracks when he sees Josephine and Eren, "Jo! Eren!"

"You joined the survey corps?!" Eren asks, "What happened to the military police with Annie and Marco?"

"Annie went on to the military police, and Marco... Marco died. No one even knows how.."

"Marco died?!" Eren asks shocked.

"Ah, wait then that means- who else joined the survey corps?" Josephine asks. She was suddenly heard someone call out,"Joooo!" As she was glomped to the floor. Josephine opened her eyes to find one of her childhood buddies, Sarah!

"Oh my god! Your alive!" Sarah wailed as she practically squeezed the life out of Josephine.

"Yeah, I'm alive, I'm alive! Quit crushing me!" Josephine chokes out.

Sarah gets up off of her as Josephine sits up cross legged. "Holy Rose you're fucking heavy!"

"Who me?" Sarah asks sarcastically.

"Yes you!" Josephine responds.

"Couldn't be!" Sarah says over dramatically.

"Fuck. You." Josephine replies.

"When, where and how many people?" Sarah replies smugly.

"I knew you were going to say that!"

Josephine says laughing.

"Food buddy! There you are! And Josie! Your alive!" Sasha exclaims.

Josephine waves her hand as if to shoo away the conversation, "We've already went over this so many times!"

Suddenly Connie, Reiner, Bertolt, Krista and Ymir show up.

"You guys joined too?!" Eren exclaims.

Josephine smiles, "Looks like the crew's all here!... Well mostly." They start to all chat and catch till someone calls all the new recruits over for their new uniforms. Josephine and Eren stared in awe as their friends put on their cloaks. Especially Eren who could've sworn he saw Marco wear a Survey corps cloak with them.


	10. Chapter 10

"What's all the ruckus about?" Levi suddenly says, approaching the new recruits.

"Sir!" All but one of the group says and salutes.

"Who the fuck are you?" Sarah asks.

"Excuse me?" Levi replies sternly.

Josephine elbows her arm, "That's the corporal!" She says through her teeth.

"Your point is?" Sarah replies.

"He's a superior, higher up than us!" Armin whispers towards her.

Sarah just crosses her arms and just turns towards him, "Again, your point is? Superior or not I'm not going to take orders from someone who's shorter than me." She bluntly replies. Josephine sees the corporal's eye twitch, so she quickly gets in between the two, "Sorry about that corporal! She tends to be like that sometimes, we'll be leaving now!" She says as she drags Sarah in the opposite direction.

**"Hold on, Jojo! I'm not done with that shorty yet!"** Sarah screeches, breaking out of Josephine's grip.

"Joy! Come back here!" Levi yells after them.

Hesitantly she comes back regaining her grip on Sarah, "sir?"

"You." He points to Sarah, "What's your name?" He asks sternly.

"What's it to you shorty?" Sarah sassily replies back.

"I asked you a question cadet." Levi replies stern, and irritated.

Sarah sighs, "Look I don't think your getting the point he-" she was interrupted by Josephine, "Corporal, this is Sarah, one of my childhood buddies," she says waving a hand towards her than to Levi, "Sarah, Corporal."

"Hold up a second! You called her Joy a little while ago didn't you?" Sarah asks pointing to Josephine.

"Your point brat?" Levi says, with little interest.

Sarah glares at him for a second before continuing, "She always told me that only her family and the people that took care of her called her Joy, and Mikasa, Eren and Armin call her that and they took care of her so that must mean-" she gasps, "**You guys are related?!"**

Everyone suddenly gasps and start murmuring amongst themselves. Josephine face palms.

"No, we aren't related. He actually took care of me a _looong_ time ago; the first actually since my brother and I became orphaned."

"_Ohhhhh_, that makes more sense there's no way you guys could've been related! I mean look at you two! There's no way someone as short as him could be related to someone as tall as you! What are you like 5'6? He's gotta be at least 5'2!" Sarah laughs hard, face turning red as she wipes away a tear. She suddenly stops, "Wait. You had a brother?!"

Josephine pinches the bridge of her nose, "Ugh, I have too much to explain." She murmurs. "I'll answer questions later!" She says a little louder.

Levi, who's one-hundred percent done with the foolishness, grabs both girls by the collar and flicks them quick and hard on the forehead.

"Ow!" Sarah and Josephine both wince and rub their foreheads.

"New recruits, go inside and continue your briefing." They all leave. Well, all except Sarah who just had to turn around and yell, "Oi! Shorty!" And flip him off before running to catch up with the others.

"This crazy bitch.." Josephine murmurs face palming again.

"Good thing you know." Levi replies monotonously to her. "Anyway, You and Eren are to help shitty glasses today, then when she dismisses you you two are to patrol." He turns to walk away but then adds, "Oh, and don't be late for supper."

At the courtyard (where the Titans used to be) Josephine and Eren are sitting on the floor waiting for Hanji

"Where do you think major Hanji is?" Josephine asks randomly aloud. Eren just shrugs.

"Hey, are you still mad at me? You never told me if you accepted my apology or not." Eren suddenly asks slight concern in his voice.

Josephine chuckles lightly, "I actually forgave you awhile ago! Back when you did that outburst apology"

Eren fumes and starts pinching and pulling at her cheeks, "Why didn't you say so sooner?! I've been going crazy about it the entire day yesterday!"

She slaps his hands away and puts her hands up to guard her cheeks, "Cause you're fun to mess with!" She laughs.

"Why you!-" Eren goes and tries to rip her hands away from her cheeks to pinch at them again, but to no avail. So he continuously flicks at her forehead till she removes one hand from her cheek, to guard her forehead. Eren then takes this opportunity to pinch at her newly exposed cheek. Refusing to lose; Josephine starts pinching and pulling at Eren's cheeks. Soon it becomes a cheek pinching war.

"Le go off mah cheeks!"

"Haw about you shtop pinshing mahine!"

"On te count of shree we both le go!"

1, 2, 3. Neither of them let go. They blink at each other for a second, before Josephine starts laughing letting go of Eren's cheeks; confused Eren lets go of her cheeks, "What's so funny?" He asks.

"You!.. Well, us! Look at us it's like we're little again!.. Plus your face was pretty funny!" She replies still laughing.

"My face?! You should've seen yours!" Eren defends himself, laughing lightly.

Josephine sighs and smiles at him, "Ne, Eren. I like you better when you smile. It's a shame you don't do it often."

He looks down at his lap, "After all I've been through, how can I smile?..It actually amazes me how you still can. You've been through a lot of bullshit too. A lot more than I thought I knew."

"Yeah. You're right. But believe it or not Eren it's the bullshit I've been through that helps me smile." Josephine replies. He gives her a look of astonishment and confusion. "You see because of all that bullshit; I guess you can say I learned to look for happiness. Like, yeah my parents were taken away from me, but at least I still had my brother, and if they hadn't I wouldn't have met that man from Sina. I wouldn't have been enlightened by the outside world. And yes, he was killed, but I got to meet Banchou and learn how to be strong. And yes we were forced to live in the outskirts of Zhiganshina, and I was hunted for being a monster, but I got to meet you and Mikasa! I got to experience what it's like to have a family and friends! Mikasa, Armin and you, believe it or not, taught me bravery. The way you defended each other. Defended me. I never would've had all this if the bullshit didn't happen," she stops for a moment realizing she went on a little too long, "Do you see what I'm saying?" He stares at her with awe. She rubs the back of her neck and looks down, "sorry, I said too much didn't I?" She says and laughs awkwardly,"But Eren..." She shifts so she's in front of him and, holds her pinky out to him, "I promise you, I'll help you see the brightness in life. It may take awhile, but.. I promise I'll help you smile again."

He looks at her pinky then at her. Her eyes lace with determination, and a smile filled with warmth, "Joy.." He says breathlessly with utter amazement, then smiles slightly and takes her pinky with his, "I'll take your word for it!... Thank you." She smiles yet again at him.

"Come on," she says as she stands up and brushes herself off, "let's go look for- Hanji!" She jumps in surprise when she turns around. There was Hanji squeezing her cheeks squealing, "Ah!~ quite the couple you two would make!~"

Eren and Josephine both blush at her comment.

"How long have you been there?" Eren asks.

"Just around the time you both started your cheek pinching war!~ I didn't want to bother you two lovebirds so I just stayed back!~" she responds.

"We aren't dat-"

"Dating? Yes, I know! But you guys are just so cute together!~" Hanji fangirls some more. While Josephine and Eren blush even redder. Hanji sighs and claps her hands together, "Anyway!~ Let's get going! We're already behind schedule!"

"Where are we going?" Asks Eren.

"What are we doing?" Asks Josephine.

Hanji turns to the two in such a way the light catches her googles, covering her eyes, giving her an almost sinister/mischievous look, "Infirmary! To get your physicals and a few experiments here and there! As one is getting worked on the other shall assist!" She excitedly replies.

The two shiver in fear.

Hanji turns to Josephine and cheerily replies, "Jo! You're first!"

'Shit.' Josephine thinks.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's note: **eye powers heavily inspired by Jin and his Kagepro!

* * *

The three walk into the infirmary. It was lined with four beds, two against each wall, with white covers and pillows on each bed. At the very end was a desk with all sorts of medical instruments and a tall table for examining on. Hanji pats said table, "Come on up Jo! You're first!" Josephine hesitantly sits on table as Hanji fishes at the desk for a clipboard and pen, "Okay," she turns to Eren and hands him the clipboard and pen, "I'm gonna evaluate Jo, so Eren I'm gonna need you to take notes on what I say, but if you notice something I don't, feel free to write your own notes down! Jo you're gonna do the same when I evaluate Eren." They both nod. "Good!" Hanji proceeds to check Josephine's height, weight, general health/strength, and most importantly her eyes. "Your eyes are starting to falter a little Jo, just a little more and you're going have to wear goggles! Take good care of those eyes of yours ok?" She nods. "Ok! Eren you're up!" Hanji says as she pats the examination table. He hands the clipboard to Josephine and hops up on the table, she proceeds to check the usual (height, weight, general health). "Ok! One last thing! Eren, I'm going to need you to strip!" Eren blushes a deep red.

"Why?!" Eren asks bewildered.

"I wanna see if you have any defining features of a Titan in your human form!" Hanji replies excitedly, while Eren just cringes at the thought. Josephine see this and tries to reassure him, "Ah, I think I get it it's so we can see if there's anymore Titan shifters like you!... Right Hanji?"

"Yes! Yes! Of course! That and to just see if there is any." Hanji says and laughs. Eren sighs and hesitantly starts taking off his shirt, making Josephine blush and look intently at the clipboard. Hanji proceeds to start poking him in various areas constantly saying, "Hmm this seems normal, this too, and this!" Etc. while Eren tries to stifle his laughter, "Hmm, your top half seems ok... Take off your pants." Hanji says.

"Nope, nope, nope, nope! I'm leaving bye!" Josephine says as she turns toward the door, face as red as a tomato.

"Ehhh?! Joo! Don't pretend that you don't wanna see him naked!" She calls after her.

Josephine sits in the hallway just outside the infirmary, "I'll still take notes, just yell what you want me to write!" She yells.

Hanji sighs and turns to Eren, "Go on, get to it!"

"Major Hanji.. I'm sorry, but I do have my limits!" Eren says as he blushes a deep red.

Hanji's expression turns serious, "I didn't wanna do this but... For the advancement of humanity!" She yells as she approaches Eren.

"Major Hanji.. W-what are you doing?! **Hey wait! Stop! Noo! What the hell?!" **_Crash! _

_J_osephine pokes her head through the door, and there was Eren using the examination table as a shield from Hanji.

"Come on just take off your pants!"

"This isn't gonna get us anywhere can we move on?!" Josephine yells exhausted from this mess. Hanji pouts, but hesitantly agrees, "fine... Off we go then! Back to the courtyard! We're experimenting on you today Jo." She says with that classic creepy goggles glare. She shivers yet again. Eren, now fully clothed, gives her a pitying look as he very faintly says 'good luck.'

back at the courtyard

"Ok. So Jo, all you'll be doing is name each one of your powers and show it to us, and if you have any details about it you'd like to tell us about it that would be great!" Hanji explains.

Josephine nods, "Ok... I guess I'll start off with 'concealing eyes'" with that she suddenly disappears from site, but then suddenly reappears again right behind Hanji and Eren a hand on each shoulder. "The way this one works is if I touch someone, or if someone touches me it'll break. May I have an assistant to help explain this further?" Hanji nods takes the clipboard from Eren and pushes him forward. Josephine gives him a pitying look, "I can also make things within a certain area of me disappear too." Suddenly both of them disappear. "Eren, I'm gonna need you to walk as far away from me as possible." She whispers. He gives her a confused look, but follows through anyway. After he had walked halfway through the hallway that leads to the courtyard, the invisibility broke, rendering them visible again. "If that certain distance is broken, the invisibility will break as well, and the touching rule also applies in group invisibility. Ready for the next one?" Hanji nods excitedly. "Eren! You can come back now!" Josephine calls. As soon as he returns she continues, "my next ability is deceiving eyes, quick! Give me something anything! A person, a thing-"

"A Titan!" Hanji yells excitedly

"Fuck no!"

"How about a bird?" Eren suggests.

Josephine nods in approval as her eyes turn red, and suddenly she's transformed into a little bluebird hopping about on the floor. They state at her amazed as Eren goes to poke it. Suddenly Jo appears back to normal, and he's just poking her cheek. "Unfortunately, the way this power works is I don't actually become the thing. It's more like an illusion, which becomes broken if touched." Jo explains. "It makes it kinda easier if I do humans though. I can even do the voices too! For example-" her eyes turn red then to a piercing turquoise-green, Eren stumbles back in shock. There Joy was, transformed into a mirror image of Eren. She clears her throat and in a *sing songy mocking tone of Eren's voice she said, "Hello!~ my name is Eren!"

"I don't sound like that!" He fumed.

"Hehe! Right, right sorry!" She said in that same mocking tone, but then cleared her throat and in a perfect replica of his voice said, "I don't sound like that!.. Is that better?" Hanji and Eren stared at her in awe. "I guess so huh?" She said as she transformed back to her normal self. "Now for my next trick, reading eyes, or the ability to read people's minds! To test this out I'm gonna need my assistant again!" She says as she walks over to Eren, "You better tuck all those dark and dirty thoughts away before I find them!~" she says smirking.

"You're kind of an asshole you know that?" He replies as she laughs.

"Yo'k! I'm gonna ask you a question, and you gotta answer it in your mind, ready?" Her eyes turn red yet again, "cats or dogs?"

'Dogs! Dogs are a lot more loyal and fun!' Eren thinks.

"So dogs huh?" Josephine says aloud.

'Is that right?' Hanji thinks.

"Go on Jaeger boy, tell her if I'm right or not" Josephine says teasingly.

"Yeah, she's right" Eren says to Hanji, 'God I hate that nickname.' He thinks.

"Yeah, I know sorry about that! It's just really fun to say!" Josephine cheerily replies to his thoughts, "Anyway!~ on to my next trick, _captivate_!" Her eyes turn red making Hanji and Eren look at her, "Followed by _freeze_!" Suddenly the two stop moving, not even a single breath escapes. Josephine goes and pokes them on their foreheads, "heheh! Oh the pranks I could pull on them right now!"

Suddenly she's flipped around and put into a headlock, "What was that Joy?" Eren says sinisterly.

"N-nothing!" She chokes out. He let's go of her and she clears her throat, "Your gonna regret that later on Jaeger boy!~" she says with a mocking sing-songy tone as she glares at him, "but for now, on to exploring eyes. This allows me the ability to see anywhere! All I have to do is think of the area! I can also look at where people are. For example, Eren do me a favor and hide somewhere."

"Is this why you were so good at hide-and-seek as a kid?! Cheater!" Eren asks.

"Maybe!.. Shut up!" She shoos him away, "go hide!" She turns around and covers her eyes.

"He's gone!" Hanji calls.

'_Focus_, go find Eren.' She thinks as her eyes turn red. Her view quickly changes, as if she was zooming through the hallways then into the infirmary. There was Eren wandering about the infirmary messing with the medical equipment and scattered papers. She runs in and yells, "Found ya!" Startled he drops the papers he was looking at. "Pfft nice job Eren!" Josephine laughs.

"Shut up and help me clean this up! You're the one who caught me off guard!" He yells at her. Josephine laughs but helps him out anyway.

back at the courtyard

"Ready to get your ass beat Jaeger boy?" She says as she cheekily smiles.

"Pfft by who you? No offense or anything, but I ranked top at hand-to-hand combat, and you kinda suck at it."

"Ohh your gonna get it now Jaeger boy.."

_Awaken_.

"Okay whatever you sa-" Eren was interrupted with a swift roundhouse kick to the face that sends him flying.

"Awakening eyes. It gives me the ability to awaken my inner strength and channel more if needed. Causing me to have superhuman strength, and enhances my eye abilities." She says as she lifts Eren by the collar, and unexpectedly yawns, "unfortunately it takes a heavy toll on my body, causing me to feel tired quickly," she says as she drops Eren.

"What the hell are you two still doing here?!" The three hear a voice call out. It was Levi, "Patrolling starts in 10 minutes! Stop fucking airing and get to it!"

"Yessir!" Josephine and Eren say as they leave.

"Wait Jo! We haven't gone through all your abilities yet!" Hanji calls after them.

"Yeah!... I'll just- I'll get back to you on that.." Josephine tiredly responds as she runs into a wall.

* * *

*look up shuu from Nisekoi xD (Eren and Shuu share the same voice actor, Yuuki Kaji)


	12. Chapter 12

Eren walks in the mess hall with a sleeping Josephine on his back. He sets her down next to Sasha (who's sitting next to Sarah), and he sits on the other side of the table (next to Armin).

"What happened to Joy?" Mikasa asks.

"One of her eye abilities gets her really tired easily it was called awaken or something." Eren answers. Sarah pokes Josephine's head, "Oi! Jojo! The ability is called 'awaken' not knocked out! Wake the fuck up!"

Josephine groans and turns her head away from her, "Fuck off.." Sarah throws her bread at Josephine's head. She turns her towards it and lifts her head to eat it, "..thanks."

"Hey! Who said you could eat it?!"

Sarah yells. Josephine quickly sits up and eats it all.

Sarah gasps, "**Bitch!"** As she throws a potato at her, she dodges and it hits Jean.

"Who threw that!" He fumes, "**Was it you Jaeger?!"**

"I wish horse face! It was her!" Eren replies pointing to Sarah as she feigns innocence.

"Nice try Jaeger!" Jean says as he throws his mashed potatoes at Eren, but he dodges and hits Mikasa instead. Oh shit. It got really quiet as Mikasa stands up and glares at everyone. She takes her bowl of soup walks over to Jean, and dumps it on his head. Everyone laughs their asses off as Mikasa wipes the mash potatoes off her face and slams it in Sarah's. While Jean takes his bowl of soup and dumps it on Eren and Connie for laughing the hardest. "Hey Armin! No fair you have no food on ya!" Connie says as he throws some of his food at him. Josephine clenches her gut, face turning red as she rolls on the floor, laughing at her friends. They all glare at her as they slowly approach her with globs of food in their hands.

"Haha- Wait- ha- I'm sorry! Haha- **_Oh shit!_**" Suddenly she's being bombarded with food as she runs around, causing food to hit random people in the face. She grabs random people's food to throw back and yells, "**_Food fight!_**" Soon food is flying everywhere, and people are laughing and cursing and it's just an all around good time!

"You bitch! I wanted to say that! Sarah yells at Josephine.

"Well too bad bitch!" She says as she laughs and runs away.

"Look at all the food wasted!" Sasha wails.

"You can blame this crazy bitch here" Josephine says pointing to Sarah.

"Me!?" Sarah says offended, "You started it!"

"Nu-uh!" Josephine retorts.

They both go to throw mash potatoes at each other before Levi walks in, "What's the meaning of thi-" he's interrupted by two blobs of mash potatoes hitting each side of his face.

"Oh shit.." The two girls murmur. He glares at the both of them, wipes the globs of mashed potatoes off his face... And smashes it in theirs with a smug smirk on his face. Everyone looks at him dumbfounded, while the two girls look at each other knowingly and scream, "Food fight!"

Soon food is flying again, and Levi ducks for cover and is throwing pies from the little window that connects the kitchen and mess hall. As he curses up a storm whenever food hits him.

The doors burst open yet again, but this time Erwin walks in as a pie hits him in the face. Levi immediately drops all the pies he was holding, and ducks lower behind the counter.

"**What is the meaning of this?!**" He screams.

"It's his fault!" Sarah and Josephine yell and point to the window that connects the kitchen and mess hall. Levi shoots up and screams, "You shit-faced brats! Sir, they were already fighting when I got here. Those two brats threw mashed potatoes at my face." He glares at the two girls. Erwin gives the, 'care to explain' look as they get verbal diarrhea, "Um.. Well, ah you see..." The two culprits bolt out the door... Or at least tried to. Erwin catches them and drags them back as they curse up a storm. He shoots everyone a glare that makes even Levi shiver.

"Enough with the foolishness. I don't care who started it, you all are responsible. I mean look at all of you! Look at the mess hall! It's a mess! I very disappointed in all of you, I expected better from soldiers. Especially you Levi. You're a superior, you should be setting an example. And a few days before the expedition too!" Erwin sighs.

"So your name is Levi.." Sarah says as Levi glares at her and Josephine elbows her.

"Since you all are responsible for this, you all going to fix it." He halves the room "The group on the right will buy more food, and the group on the left, the misfits that started it all, will do the laundry. All of you will clean the mess hall, right now" Assuming he was free of punishment, Levi stands up from his hiding place and begins to scold everyone.

"What are you doing?" Erwin asks

"Scolding them, like you said I'm trying to set an example." Levi responds

"And you will be, because you'll be cleaning with them." Erwin responds, "You'll be joining the laundry group." Levi hesitantly walk over to them with his arms crossed.

Josephine and Sarah cheekily smile as they both say, "Welcome aboard Levi"

"Welcome aboard *Banchou!~"

"It's getting late better get cleaning, I expect you all to wake up five hours earlier tomorrow to do the task I've assigned each group." Erwin says as he walks away. As soon as he's out of sight they all groan.

the next morning~ Josephine's POV

I hear three loud knocks at the door and groan, "Sarah! Door!"

"Nuuu!" She groans right back at me. I sigh and throw my pillow at her face as I get the door. It was banchou holding a laundry basket, and everyone else from the 'laundry group' (Mikasa, Armin, Eren, Sasha, Connie, Jean, Krista, Ymir, Reiner, Bertholdt, Hanji and Petra) looking tired as hell.

"Oh good you're awake." He monotonously says, "Come on you two! Laundry time!" He says a bit loudly. Sarah and I groan, it's to early for this! He walks into out room and 'tchs' at the sight of our gross food covered uniforms in a crumpled mess on our respective sides of the room. He picks them up with utter disgust and throws them into the basket he was holding. I sigh and shake Sarah awake, "Come on! Wake up!" She just buries herself deeper in the covers. "You leave me no choice.." I grab the pillow I threw at her earlier and start hitting her with it as I jump on her bed, "Wake up!"

She groans and kicks me off her bed, "I'm up! I'm up! Geez bitch!"

"Hey that's enough you two! Let's hurry up and get this over with." Banchou scolds. I retie my cloth head band thing (to keep my bangs out of my face), "**Lets do this!"**

3rd POV:

After gathering everybody's laundry (luckily everybody left their dirty clothes right outside their doors). Everyone gathered around the cleaning supply room to grab some washboards, buckets, soap, clothespin etc. "Ok there's fifteen of us so there will be six partners one will wash one will wring it out. We'll get it done much faster this way. The odd one out will set up where we'll hang everything up. Afterwards we can all hang up the clothes." Levi says.

Everyone quickly partners up: Eren and Armin, Mikasa and Sasha, Connie and Jean, Reiner and Bertholdt, Hanji and Petra, Krista and Ymir and finally Sarah and Josephine. Levi 'tchs' at the results, but leaves to go get some rope and his 3DMG.

"So who's doing what?" Josephine asks.

"I am _not_ washing!" Sarah yells.

"Neither am I!" Connie and Jean say at the same time, "Hey no I said it first!" Connie grabs a bucket of water and goes to splash it on Jean, but it ends up hitting Sasha and Mikasa.. Here we go again. Sasha grabs some soap while Mikasa grabs the rest of the water and they both dump it on Connie. Everyone except Petra and Armin, who are trying to return order, laugh their asses off while Mikasa smirks slightly. Connie goes to grab another bucket to to wash himself off, but slips and ends up dousing everybody. It went dead silent, except for Connie's laughter as he rolls around smacking the bucket on the floor.

Everyone quickly grabs buckets of water as Sarah yells, "**Water fight**!" Soon water is flying everywhere, everybody's slipping all over the place from some soapy water and laughter and curses can be heard from all around.

Levi's POV: I'm on my way outside as I pass by the supply room. I hear 'thuds', laughter, cursing, and splashes. What the fuck is going in there? I go to open the door and everything and everyone is soaking wet.

"Corporal!" I hear a few people shout. People start fumbling to stand up and salute but end up slipping instead.

"**What the fuck is going in here?! I leave no less than five minutes and this shit happens?!**" I yell.

"A party! Isn't obvious Levi?~" I hear Sarah cheekily say.

Ugh, this fucking bitchy brat she probably started this shit, "You. You're now partners with me."

"I'm flattered!" Sarah says sarcastically.

"I'm making sure there's no more bullshit. Everybody, switch partners!"

The partners ended up being: Me and this bitchy-brat, The crazy protective brat and the smart one, the Titan shit and (my kinda, sorta) little sister, Potato girl and baldie, Petra and the shy little blonde girl, Shitty glasses and the tomboy, and Bear-holdt and horseface. Leaving the giant (literally) pervert with set-up duty.

3rd POV

After cleaning up the floor and drying themselves off as best as they could they began to do the laundry. It was pretty silent till Levi and Sarah started arguing.

"You're not wringing it well enough! It's still dripping!" Levi scolds.

"Asshole! Why don't you do it yourself then?!" Sarah retorts as she throws the shirt at his face.

Josephine starts to laugh, so Levi throws it at her, "Throw it back at me and you have to clean the castle for an entire month."

"Aww fine, you're no fun!" She instead throws it at Eren.

"Ugh! What the hell!" He yells as he wrings it out, "Stop messing around! Your a soldier!" He fumes.

"Ehhh when did you become such a party pooper Jaeger boy?" She pouts at him.

"And stop with that nickname!" He adds.

"There's nothing wrong with having once and awhile" she murmurs.

"Oi! **Titan and Bunny! Shut up! And get washing!" Levi scolds

"Bun-?!" She's interrupted by to wet clothes hitting her in the face and laughter. "Assholes!" She yells as she throws it back at Levi and Sarah, "How the fuck am I a bunny anyway?!"

"With that headband you kinda are," Mikasa says.

"Mikasa you too?!" Josephine wails.

Agreement resound from the room.

"_Guuuuyyyysss_" she pouts.

"Haha! I'm gonna forever use that against you!" Eren says.

"Noo! You better not Jaeger boy!"

"Whatever you say... _Bunny_." Eren says as he smirks. As everyone laughs and starts calling her bunny too.

It goes silent for awhile before Josephine gasps, "Did corporal and Sarah just agree on something!?"

"Hah! As if I'd agree to anything with this short bastard!" Sarah yells.

"**You bitchy brat!**" He screeches back.

"**You wanna go you short, clean-freak asshole!?**" Sarah retorts.

"Ok, ok you guys I'm sorry let's just get back to-" Josephine starts, but is interrupted by wet clothes smacking her in the face.

"Stay out of this you bunny!" The two screech.

"**Oh that is it!"** Josephine throws laundry at them, as they dodge making it hit the others. As yet /another/ fight starts.

Erwin's POV:

Hmm I've finished most of my work; maybe I should check how the laundry's going. I look out the window and expect to see them hanging things up, but it's empty. "That's odd.."

I go and look for them around the castle and hear yelling coming from the supply room... Don't tell me.. I open the door, "What's going on here?" I ask.

"Commander!" Everyone yells, as they drop the laundry and salute. I look around and there are clothes everywhere! Some clean, some still dirty, and everyone is covered in stains (probably from the dirty clothes) and is wet. I pinch the bridge of my nose.

"We can explain!" Petra says.

I raise my hand to stop her, "I don't want to know. You guys obviously can't handle being without supervision," I grab a stool and roll up my sleeves, "so I'll stay and help."

3rd POV: Thanks to Erwin being there there were no fights, but none the less it was still pretty fun, and a day they'll remember and smile about.

* * *

*Banchou= delinquent/ gang leader **Allusion/pun to Tiger and Bunny (anime about superheroes and the main characters, Tiger & bunny argue about what it really means to be a hero)


	13. Chapter 13

Suppertime that night~

"Ugh, thanks to you brats I had to spend an extra half hour in the bath." Levi complains.

"Don't pretend that you didn't have fun today Banchou!~ You're even sitting with us" Josephine replies teasingly.

"And with being a clean-freak and all you probably loved it Levi." Sarah adds

Connie snickers, "I bet he even shoved soap up his ass!"

Levi glares at the three, "Baldie, laps now. And you two, stop calling me by those names. It's corporal."

"Fine, fine how about shorty?" Sarah asks.

"No, no that one's mine!" Hanji says.

"Mama Levi?" Josephine suggests.

"Nah, that's more like Erwin"

"Fine, how about twerkchou?" Josephine suggests.

"What the fuck is twerking?" Levi asks.

"Don't pretend that you don't know what it is! I saw you in your office that one day!~" Josephine say in a mocking tone, as Levi covers his ass defensively.

"How about bitch-baby?" Sarah suggests.

"I like that one." Mikasa nods in agreement.

Levi slams his hands on the table, "**Hell. No. Read my lips.** **_Cor-por-al._**"

"I read bitch baby." Mikasa replies.

"Then it's settled! Bitch baby it is!" Hanji replies laughing as a few people nod in agreement.

He glares at the group as Sarah laughs, "What are you gonna do cry about it?" His eye twitches in annoyance, "Aww is bitch-baby getting annoyed?" She continues. He goes to punch her, but she quickly dodges, "**Let's go right now bitch-baby!"** She stand up and yells.

"**Fine shit faced brat!**" He yells as he slams his hands on the table. The two start fist-fighting in the middle of the mess hall as curses and cheers are flying everywhere. Armin and Petra are trying to stop the two from fighting, but they don't pay any mind. Not until Josephine got involved anyway. Wasting no time to try and consult with them she slams her hands on the table, and waltzes right in front of the two. _Captivate_. They immediately stop and look at her. _Awaken_. She swiftly kicks them both to the ground a few feet away, breaking them out of their trance.

"Ugh, What the hell?!" The two screech.

Josephine walks over to the both of them and sassily puts her hands on her hips, "You guys argue way to much! I'm getting sick and tired it! You've argued what? Like 142 times in two days?! Not anymore. **I'm ending this shit today."**

"Oh? And what are you gonna do about it?" Levi crosses his arms, and replies in a mocking tone.

She gives them a crooked smile, "Oh, I'm glad you asked!~ I don't normally like doing this, but _this _is an exception!~" she replies in a sinisterly sing-songy voice. '_Nightmare_.'

Suddenly the two are squirming.

"Ew, ew! No! Get them off me, get them off!" Sarah squeals as she flails her arms.

While Levi is scrubbing at the floor mumbling, "It won't go away.. Why won't it go away?! Everything.. **Everything is so disgustingly dirty!" **He screams.

Josephine lets them stay like this for a minute or so before dragging them back into reality. Both of them with a face full of shock, "So what do you guys say?~ _Truce_?" She asks with the same sinister song like voice. Being the stubborn people they are they still refuse, "My, my. Don't you two ever learn?~" she as her eyes turn red yet again,"apologize to each other." She sternly says.

"I'm sorry..." The Levi and Sarah both murmur.

"And you guys will stop arguing so much _riiigght_?~" Josephine says adding a smile for a creepier affect. The two mumble an answer, "I'm sorry what was that?" She replies intensifying her power, so they see another level of their fears.

"Y-yes mam!" The two stutter out.

Josephine closes her eyes and reopens them to reveal her normal soft, cheery brown eyes, "See that wasn't so hard was it?" She says as she holds a hand out to Levi and Sarah. They hesitantly grab it, 'easier for you to say' they both think as they walk back to the table. Everyone stares at Josephine bewildered.

"Did she- what just happened?"

"Did corporal just say 'Yes mam' to her?!"

"He stuttered too!"

Josephine stares at her friends at the table and sighs, "Nightmare eyes. When people look into my eyes they see their fears. I can vary the intensity just like my other eye abilities, and if I will it I can see what they fear."

"Truly amazing!~" Hanji replies.

Levi glares at her, "Amazing?! That shit was horrible."

"It was scary just watching it!" Sasha says shivering.

"And here I thought she was just some delicate flower!" Jean adds, as Josephine frowns slightly.

"Delicate flower," Sarah scoffs, "That sure brings back memories, huh Jo?" Said girl nods in agreement.

"What do you guys mean exactly?" Eren asks.

"Forget that! Joo, you only have power left to show me would you please?" Hanji begs.

"I could do both! My final power is remembering eyes. It allows me to access my own and others memories, and display them if I want." Josephine explains, "Anyway, I'm pretty sure the thing she was referring to was when we first met. Sarah would ya mind?"

"Go on ahead," She replies. Josephine looks into Sarah's eyes and suddenly everyone sees wall rose from a few years back. (From when it was filled with many refugees from wall Maria.) Sarah and Josephine were held at gunpoint in an alley way.

Sarah's POV:

I can't fucking believe this! I try and help this kid and I get caught up too! "**Let go of me! Bastards! Mother fuckers**!" I curse at them.

I can hear her curse them out too, "**Fucking perverts! Let go! Shit faces! Assholes!**!"

I can feel the bastard's grip tighten and a knife at my neck and I hear a gun cock, "My, my for such delicate little flowers you guys have foul mouths!~" I hear one of the bastards say. Oh no he fucking didn't. I go to curse at him once more before I hear a scream. I look over to the girl, but to my surprise there was a black snake in her place. I quickly take this opportunity and elbow the guy in the gut, and kick him off to the side. I grab his knife and stomp on his crotch and stab the floor next him cutting his cheek. I shoot him a wicked glare and a crooked smile, "Don't you know it isn't nice to corner girls in an alleyway?~ **So don't go groping us like it's no big deal, you fucking perverted bastards."** I sternly say as I punch him unconscious. I hear gunshots from the distance...

3rd POV:

"Holy shit." Resounds from the room

"What were those gunshots?! You can't just leave off there what happens?!" Eren rants.

"Where did that snake come from?" Armin asks.

"Did those bastards ever get caught?" Levi asks.

"What happens to you Joy?!" Petra asks.

"Woah, woah you guys! I was gonna show you my memories next, so just chill!" Josephine reassures, as her eyes turn red yet again.

Josephine's POV:

"**Fucking perverts! Let go! Shit faces! Assholes!**" I curse at them.

I feel a barrel of a gun pressed to my head and I hear it cocked, "My, my for such delicate little flowers you guys have foul mouths!~"

I 'tch' these bastards. '_Deceive_' I quickly transform into a snake and slip out of his grip. He screams and starts shooting at me but I easily dodge and nip at his feet. He drops his gun and stumbles on a wall. I quickly transform back, and take the gun. I shoot three rounds; each nicking his leg, arm, and cheek. I cock the gun one last time and point it at his head, "I won't miss this next shot." I guess from fear, he passes out. Before I could even think, I'm being grabbed and dragged. I look to see the girl around my age who tried to help me out with those imbeciles. We both finally stop running and it seems like we're in an abandoned building. My thoughts finally catch up to me and my hands start to shake slightly, "Holy fucking shit that was scary!" I breathe.

I see a hand held out to me, "Not bad! You got potential, welcome aboard!~" she says as she smiles, "The name's Sarah!"

I grab her hand and shake it, "Josephine." I reply back.

3rd POV

"Aboard what?" Mikasa asks.

"Secret." Sarah and Josephine say.

"I'm sorry I take back what I said about you being a delicate flower! Just don't shoot me!" Jean half jokingly says.

"Haha. Very funny horse-face." Josephine sarcastically replies.

"Where was your brother for all this? He normally would've gone apeshit." Levi asks, as Mikasa, Eren, and Armin nod in agreement.

"Oh yeah! You had a brother!" Sarah adds, "yeah actually, where was he?"

Josephine laughs slightly, "That shit-face really would've. I can take care of myself now though," she sighs and looks down at her plate, "He was eaten, back in wall Maria that day... Sacrificed himself so I could live." Eren and Mikasa gasp. "You realize now don't you? How we got separated. Why I wasn't with you all in wall Rose. Hannes couldn't handle all of us; I had to ride on my brother's back as we all ran... He tripped and we ended up lagging behind you three. Out of nowhere a Titan appears! I told him to get up, and he tried, but... That wasn't enough... He knew he couldn't make it far in his state, so he became the diversion so I could run away..." Josephine's eyes well up with tears as it was dead silent, "heh oh the irony! I'll never forget what he told me, 'Don't cry! You're as strong as a soldier right? This is the last time I'm gonna save your ass and be a hero for ya, so could you do me a favor and keep being a hero for me?' Some hero I am..." She murmurs.

Tears start rolling down her cheeks as she quickly wipes them away, "Joy are you-"

"I'm fine." Josephine interrupts Mikasa. The bell tolls signaling the end of supper, "Come on you guys, we've got quite the day ahead of us, we have two days before the expedition after all!" She says as she feigns a smile and walks toward her room.


	14. Chapter 14

The next morning~

Everyone was gathered in the mess hall for breakfast, with the usual chatter till Josephine walked in.

"Are you ok?" Mikasa asks.

Josephine smiles slightly, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Your eyes are kinda puffy and dark," Armin asks worriedly.

"I'm fine! I always have dark circles around my eyes!" She responds raising her voice causing Armin to flinch, "I'm- I'm sorry.. I just didn't get much sleep last night." She sighs and lays her head down on the table.

"Looks like neither did Jaeger boy here." Jean says pointing behind Josephine.

"Hey..." Eren groggily says with horrible dark circles around his eyes.

"Didn't sleep well either?" Josephine asks.

He yawns and plops down next to her, "Yeah.. Plus Hanji made me wake up five hours earlier for some experiments," he senses Mikasa tense, "I'm fine." He lays his down on the table and turns towards Josephine (facing the back of her head), "You ok? You had me worried there last night," he asks.

"We all were," Petra adds.

Josephine sighs and turns her head towards Eren, "I'm sor-" she stops and the two blush at the realization at how close they are (two inches/five centimeters apart by nose). She quickly sits up face still heating up, "-ry." she clears her throat, "I'm sorry," she stands up from the table, "I'm sorry for making you all worry. I'm fine honest!" She says shooting them a smile. Everyone's expressions soften a little. She turns to Eren, "Now, you come with me." He shoots her a confused look, "Come on!" She says grabbing his hand, and dragging him along; causing his cheeks to tinge pink.

~in the supply room

"What are we doing in here?" Eren asks.

Josephine takes out two buckets and fills them with cold water and sets them on the counter, "We're both hella sleepy, so I figured we need a pick me up. It'd be better to sleep, but that isn't exactly an option." She sighs and puts her hair up, "Ready?"

Eren nods, "At the count of three?" Josephine nods, "one, two, three!" They both take in a big gulp of air and dive their head in. After what felt like an eternity they both finally bring their heads to the surface. Josephine throws a towel to Eren as she wipes off her face, "Better?"

"Better." He says as he sighs contently.

"How come you didn't sleep well last night?" He asks.

Josephine sighs, "The closer and closer we get to the expedition the more tense everything gets. It makes it kinda hard to sleep. Plus all the things I wanted to forget come popping back… I just needed to vent somehow, so I stayed up pretty late to do that too."

"How'd you do it?" He asks.

"I drew."

"You draw? I wanna see!" Eren replies excitedly.

She laughs, "I figured you might say that," she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a folded up paper. Eren unfolds it and it reveals a drawing of her brother with his shaggy long hair and that signature toothy, goofy grin. Eren smiles slightly at it, "I'm glad you like it." Josephine says smiling back at him, "…hey, why didn't _you_ sleep well last night?" She asks.

He folds the paper back up and hands it to her, "Same reason as you, and… I was kinda worried about you…" he trails off.

Josephine frowns, "I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to make you guys worry," she sighs, "Sorry."

"You say sorry too much!" Eren replies.

She smiles slightly, "Oh! and I figured that you might've been feeling a bit down, so I drew you some stuff too!" She hands him two folded up pieces of paper; one was a drawing of the four of them in that beautiful field of flowers they always used to hang out at. At the very bottom it said 'talking about the outside world with Armin, Mikasa, Eren, Me and big bro!' Eren smiles remembering all the peaceful memories, but it quickly fades into shock when he sees the next one. It was a portrait of Carla, his mother. Before he could even realize it, tears start flowing out of his eyes, "It's been so long!… I- I almost forgot what she looked like…" he chokes out.

"Hello?" A voice suddenly calls out. _Conceal_. Josephine quickly hugs Eren and buries his face into her shoulder to try to muffle his sobs. The person peaks their head through the door, it was Petra, "Hello? Joy? Eren?" She calls out, "Huh, I could've sworn I heard them; I wonder where they went." She murmurs to herself as she walks away.

Josephine turns off eye ability, and let's go of Eren's head, "sorry about that, I figured you didn't want anybody to see you cry. " she says laughing awkwardly.

"Thanks." Eren replies still leaning his head on her shoulder.

"Uh, Eren?.." Josephine asks.

"…Just give me a few to get myself together.." He replies cheeks tinged.

"Of course," She replies as she blushes and awkwardly starts petting his head, "I'm sor-"

He lifts his head off her shoulder interrupting her apology, "Thanks, you helped me realize my goal again." His face is fixed into one with determination, "I have to. I'm going to! Eradicate all the titans!" He yells.

"I knew you guys were in here!" Petra pops her head through the door again, "Corporal's been looking for you two! You two have chores to do, and Joy afterwards you have to go see Hanji for some experiments, ok?"

"Ok, thank you!" Josephine replies. She turns to Eren, "So um… seeya later? I guess?.." She awkwardly says as she slowly backs her way towards the door.

"Yeah! Hey, good luck with Hanji!" Eren replies.

Josephine laughs slightly, "Yeah, thanks!" Before walking out the door.

Josephine's POV:

Bleh, Hanji kept me back pretty late today. I didn't even get to go to the mess hall! I sigh, at least she brought me food…

_Flash! Boom!_

I squeal and run away as fast as my legs can take me. As soon as I stop and reopen the eyes I never knew I shut, I look around. Shit. Where the fuck am I?

_Booom! Crash!_

_Shit!_ I run away from the windows and hug my knees tight to my chest. Fuck, fuck I don't know where I am, and I'm scared shitless. What the fuck do I do? I wince again as I hear another thunder clap. I'm so pathetic... I hate thunderstorms! They remind me of too much... Of the colossal Titan... Of just how fucking lonely I am... Another flash and crash, and I bring my head down to my knees. "S-somebody.. Please-Kya!" I squeal as I hug my knees tighter. Ugh, I feel so weak... Get your shit together! This is the least you can do for yourself! I take a deep breath and use my exploring eye ability. 'Quickly! Find me a good place to wait out this storm! One that blocks out noise well, and no windows!' Quickly my view changes and I'm zooming through the halls. Apparently there are stairs near by and downstairs theirs a room cracked; the basement! Why didn't I think of that! I see lightning flash again, and I run as fast I can to the basement, I see more lighting flash and thunder crash, but I just run faster. I finally reach the basement and I kick the door open and slam it shut. Suddenly all the pent up feelings I ever kept, come bursting out of me. I slide down the door and cry, and cry. I don't know why just then did I decide to release everything; maybe it was because I was alone... Or so I thought.

"Joy?" A voice called out to me.

Suddenly everything fell into place. This was Eren's room.

I sniff and quickly wipe my tears away, "Ah, I'm sorry! I disturbed you didn't I?" I turn to the door, "W-well I'll be going now" he quickly grabs my arm turns me around and hugs me.

"It's ok. I know how much you hate thunderstorms, you have since we were little! I also know how you aren't so scared of them when you have someone with you, so it's ok. You don't have to leave. You don't have to face it alone anymore." Eren soothingly tells me.

3rd POV:

Sarah is racing through the halls to Levi's office. Without even knocking she burst through the door.

"What the hell do you think you're doing brat?" He asks sternly.

"We have a situation Levi." Her face and tone serious.

Levi baffled by this responds, "What?"

"Jo's gone missing." She replies.

Levi stands from his desk, "What do you mean missing?! The castle is guarded and it's pouring rain outside. Plus she's a shithead when it comes to directions."

"I know right! But she never came back to our room yet and it's past curfew. I already checked Hanji but she wasn't there! Leevvii! What do we doo?!" Sarah wails.

"We find her idiot." He grabs her hand and they both begin searching around the castle.

Josephine clenches Eren's shirt and buries her face in his shoulder, tears begin to well up in her eyes again, "... Eren... I'm terrified..."

"Shh I know" Eren interrupts her as he pats her head.

"No. Not just by the storm..." She hugs him back tightly, ".. I'm terrified of losing you and the others! At the battle of Trost.. Even back then in wall Maria... So many people they- our entire squad that day! They-" She clenches her teeth. She can't bare to say it.

"I know. I'm scared too, we all are, but, it'll be ok. We've already been through hell in Trost, and this is only a test run. Yeah! Everything will be fine…" he murmurs.

"Eren." Josephine says sternly breaking the hug, "stop with the reassuring lies. It's not gonna help either of us. You and I both know that we don't know what's out there, we're in the survey corps dammit! We have to face hell with those Titans whenever we go out!" She sighs, "I have faith in all of you, but that nagging feeling is still there.."

"You're right… I know we don't know what's out there, but I promise," he says as he extends his pinky, "I'll come back alive, and _you_ better promise the same." Eren says. Josephine smiles and hooks her pinky with his, "I promise."

Suddenly the door swings open causing Josephine to fall on top of Eren.

"What's the meaning of this?!" Levi asks sternly.

Sarah peaks her way through the door way as well and wiggles her eyebrows, "Ayyyee go get'em Jojo!"

Eren and Josephine blush profusely and quickly sit up.

"**It isn't like that!**" Josephine and Eren screech.

"Were you making a move on her Titan shit?" Levi glares at Eren

"No!" Eren defends.

"He's right, by the looks of it Jo here was making the move on Eren!"

"N-No! It wasn't like that! You guys kicked the door open, so I fell on top of him!" Josephine yells, blushing even more at what they were suggesting.

"**Why were you in his room.**" Levi demands an answer.

"I.." Josephine trails off embarrassed to tell him the truth.

"I was comforting her sir." Eren replies for her.

"Why?"

"Because-" as if on cue, lighting flashes and a thunder clap, booms in the hallway and through the open door; causing Josephine to squeal and tighten herself into a ball and bury her face into her hands.

"You're afraid of thunder and lighting?" Levi smirks slightly, "what happened to all that audacity back in court? I believe you said, 'I'm not scared. I'm fear itself.'"

"Fuck off!" Boom! She squeals again, "I'm only human!"

Levi looks at the door questionably, before yanking Sarah in, stepping out the door and closing it behind him. Another thunder clap booms outside, "Could you guys hear that?" Levi asks.

"**Hear what?!**" Sarah yells back.

Levi walks in the door again, but this time closing it behind him, "I see." He mumbles to himself, "Well it seems Joy here is terrified of thunder-"

"**What of it asshat?!**" Josephine defensively says.

Levi shoots her a glare and clears his throat, "as I was saying, since you are pretty much terrified to go outside at the moment; you can stay here until the storm passes. Afterwards I expect you in your room, I'll be checking on you in the morning." Josephine nods in response.

"And you Eren," he glares at the Titan boy, "if you try anything, **I'm going to ****_rip_**** your balls off. ****_Do you understand?_**"

Eren nods furiously, "Yes sir! I'd never take advantage of her sir!"

"Good." Levi responds, before turning his back and walking out the door. Sarah gives them a little wink and wiggles her eyebrows before leaving with Levi.

"I can't wait to tell Hanji this!" Sarah excitedly says.

"What does shitty glasses have to do with this?"

"_Shishishi_~ well ya seee, Hanji purposefully held Jo a little later, so she would walk out for the storm, while I told everybody that Erwin ordered that everybody locks their doors cause of the storm; I told everybody _except_ Eren leaving his door unlocked! I knew she would look for some place to hide _shishishi!_~"

"Why waste your time doing something like this?" Levi asks.

"Cause we ship them!" Hanji responds popping out of nowhere.

"You guys are fucking weird." Levi responds as he walk away.

"It's a fangirl thing!" Hanji yells after him as Sarah and herself begin to discuss how their plan worked out.

Back in Eren's room~

"So um…" Eren scratches the back of his head, "Are you sleepy?"

"Yeah…" Josephine responds softly.

"Ok, so you can take my bed and I'll sleep on the floor!" He suggests.

"No it's ok, I'll take the floor! I'm afraid if I sleep too well I won't be able to make it to my room when the storm ends." Josephine suggests.

"How about we-" Eren stops and thinks for a moment, 'if we share the bed, we both might not be able to wake up and Corporal might check on us in the morning!…' he covers his crotch defensively and pales.

"Eren?" Josephine asks worriedly.

"Oh, I-I was going to say maybe we should wait out the storm together?" Eren finally responds.

"Ah, no it's ok! I can do it by myself! You didn't get much sleep last night and you had to wake up super early! You really need some sleep and-"

Eren grabs the blanket off his bed wraps it around himself and sits on the floor at the side of his bed (facing the door), "You didn't get much sleep either, and I don't mind, it's the least I can do, for all you've done for me," he stretched his arm out to the side and ushers her over, "look there's room for you in here!" He says with his cheeks tinged.

Josephine blushes and walks over, and scoots her way into the space Eren made for her in the blanket. She continues to squirm around trying to find a comfortable sitting position as Eren laughs at her struggle, "Comfortable?"

"Hold up a second," Josephine gets up and sits on his bed and takes off her boots and all her straps, before sitting back down and hugging her knees. Suddenly Eren brings his arm around her scooting her closer and enveloping her in the blanket.

"Better?" Eren asks.

"Be-better." Josephine stutters out with her face pinking.

"You always feel so cold." Eren randomly says as he grabs her hands, cheeks tinged.

Josephine leans her head on his shoulder, "and you're always so warm."

Eren blushes, "That means we're perfect together," Eren murmurs.

"Hm? Did you say something?" Josephine asks.

"No!" He responds a little to fast, ears reddening.

She laughs slightly, "You're such a bad liar," she yawns, "but I'll let you off this time.." She says as she drifts to sleep. Eren following soon after.

Eren's POV:

I feel something hit my crotch scaring me awake as I yell, "Don't rip off my balls!" I look around and don't see corporal; I guess it was just a nightmare. I lay my face in my hands, but then what- I look down to see Joy's head on my lap. Oh. I try to shake her awake, "Joy. Joy. Joy!" She just groans and curls herself up tighter into a ball and buries her face into my lap. I can feel my face heat up slightly. I sigh and carefully wrap the blanket around her and carry her to my bed. I open the door to see if the storm stopped, it did. I check the time, 2 am. I think I have enough time to carry Joy to her room, and still get some sleep. I put my shoes on, remove the blanket from Joy, carry her bridal style, and pick up her boots and straps. God! She's getting heavy! I walk out the door and try to find Sarah and her room. Luckily cleaning so much let me know my way around the castle, I find a door with a piece of paper pinned to it that says, 'Sarah and Josephine's room!' With little drawing of themselves on it. I turn the door to find it's unlocked, how convenient! I walk over to her bed and gently place her down, and her boots and straps next to her bed. I go to walk away before I feel something tugging on my sleeve. It's Joy! Is she even awake?! I pinch her cheek, and she groans and turns away from me. Ha. I guess not. I look to see if Sarah's asleep; it looks like it. I turn back to Joy and blush, I'm going to regret this later. I lift her bangs up and gently place a kiss on her forehead. She stirs and before I even know it I'm halfway through the hallway. I _really_ feel like I'm going to regret this later!

* * *

author's note: lol sorry if Eren's OOC I've been reading too much shoujo manga xD


	15. Chapter 15

**The next morning in the mess hall~**

Everyone is gathered in the mess hall again chatting about, and Sarah and Josephine walk in, "Good morning!" Josephine yawns out.

"Well, well if it isn't the scaredy cats?" Levi teases.

Sarah laughs at the pouting Josephine as they take a seat.

"I was talking to you too you know." Levi says to Sarah.

"Pfft what are you talking about?!" Sarah defensively says.

"Oh? You squeezed my hand every time thunder struck while looking for Joy, _and_ I believe you chased after me and clung onto my arm for dear life wailing, 'No! Don't leave me alone in the hallway!' After Hanji left. You wouldn't leave me alone that I even had to let you stay in my room to get your shit together. " Levi says smirking.

Sarah's face reddens with fury and embarrassment, **"Well Jo and Eren fucked each other!"** she yells drawing attention away from herself.

**"WHAT?!"** Resounds from the room. Mikasa and Levi give Eren the, '_I trusted you, prepare to get your balls ripped off_' glare.

While Josephine and Eren's faces flush as they both fumble to explain, "That didn't happen! Nothing happened!" They both screech.

"T-there's was a storm!" Josephine begins.

"And she got scared and so I comforted her!" Eren finishes.

"Oh? Then why was she on top of you?" Sarah reminds him sinisterly.

Hanji pats Josephine's back laughing, "Wow! Didn't think you had it in you!"

Josephine face reddens with a mixture of rage and embarrassment, **"That's not what happened and you know it! We were sitting in front of the door when you and _shorty_ over here decided to kick the door open!"**

"Oh? then how about when Eren carried you to our room? He was carrying your boots and straps separate." Sarah continues.

'He carried me to the room? Oh, I guess that makes sense why I woke up in there this morning instead of his,' Josephine thought.

"The storm stopped, but she fell asleep and I didn't wanna wake her!" Eren explains.

"A-and my straps and boots were starting to get uncomfortable, so I took them off!" Josephine continues.

"Fine fine, but," Sarah turns to Eren, "explain why you kissed her on the forehead." Sarah smirks triumphantly.

"Ehhh?!" Josephine blushes even more as she brings her hands to her forehead, "Is- is that true?" She turns to Eren.

His face becomes redder than a tomato as he buries it into his hands, "I thought you were fucking asleep!"

Hanji laughs, "I think that's a yes! Ahhh!~ so much lovely fluffiness from my lovely ships!"

"Ships?" Armin asks.

"Yup! Ships! It's when you want two people to be in a relationship together! In this case," Hanji points to Eren and Josephine "Them!" And then points to Levi and Sarah,"and them!~"

"Ehhh?! Me and this asshat?!" Sarah shrieks and blushes.

"Yes! Yes! Of course you're both so tsundere for each other it's perfect! And from what I've heard today it's working out lovely!~ Though it's still a work in progress!~" Hanji excitedly says.

"Tsundere?" Levi asks.

Josephine laughs sinisterly; payback. "It means-"

"**Shut the fuck up!**" Sarah yells before storming out.

"The tsundereness of it all!~ Don't tell him it'll ruin the moment!" Hanji pleads. Josephine puts her hand up in a surrender like fashion, while Levi raises an eyebrow and 'tchs'.

"So how about this other 'ship' of yours," Mikasa asks curiously.

"Well it isn't it obvious?~ a complete success of course!~" Hanji cheerily responds.

"W-what do you mean 'success' exactly?" Eren asks hesitantly.

"That you love each other of course!~" Hanji replies. The two blush beet red.

"L-love?!" The two stutter out.

'D-do I love- N-no! This is just a huge misunderstanding! R-right?!' Josephine and Eren think. Josephine face plants the table while Eren re-buries his face into his hands.

"U-umm.. Guys?" Armin stutters out, but they pay no mind as they swim in their thoughts.

'He's so nice to me... And he seems to care a lot about me too..'Jo thinks.

'She always tries her best to make me smile, and comforts me.' Eren thinks.

'But he/she's like that with mostly everyone.' They both think,'b-but that kiss!'

'He kissed me on the forehead! Held my hand! Held me close! Always carries me!... He always cares for me, and worries about my welfare.. He's brave and loses his temper quickly, but can be such a dork and sweetie-pie too!.. I like it when he smiles.. And his eyes! His eyes are stunning..W-what's with my heart?!..' Josephine thinks.

'W-why did I do those things again?! I-I mean not that I minded.. She _can_ be kinda cute some times... The way she smiles and laughs... How she kinda acts like a thug sometimes,' he laughs lightly,'I mean it's not like I-?! Do I-?!' Eren thinks.

'I've always been so focused on killing the titans and the expedition I never really gave much thought…' **"The expedition!"** they both think and say.

"Yes! The expedition! Which we have training for right now, stop sitting in space and get your asses up!" Levi yells at them. They both look around and everyone's already gone! They quickly fumble to get up and run out.

"Hey, I'll race you to the training grounds!" Eren offers.

"Y-your on Jaeger boy!" Josephine stutters out still kinda shaken from the events from awhile ago.

'Maybe, this is what those feelings were, a nice friendly thing like when we were kids. Love? Relationship? No way! What the hell does that even mean?! I shouldn't be thinking about those things now anyway!...' they both think.

Everyone was already at the training when the two arrived.

"I- win-" Josephine says in between pants.

"Whatever!" Eren pants out.

Levi approaches the two as they both try to catch their breaths, "tch, I practically left the same time you did, and I make it here before you? Get it together! Double the training both of you." He scolds and walks away.

"Bleh, this sucks!" Josephine complains.

"Quit bitching and get running!" Levi yells from the distance.

"Quit bitching and get running, Bleh!" Josephine mocks under her breath as she starts to run.

"You're so stupid!" Eren says lightly before running ahead of her.

"You trying to race again? Aww are you mad you lost the first time?~" She says teasingly, snickering.

"Yeah right! I let you win! I felt bad for embarrassing you back there!" He replies defensively.

"Ha! Yeah right! You were redder than I was! Kissing my forehead and all" Josephine laughs, catching up to him. He runs ahead of her than starts running backwards;he sticks his tongue out and yells, "Whatever! We all know that you straddled me though!"

Josephine reddens with fury and embarrassment, "Asshat! You know that was an accident!" Catching up to him as he still runs backwards. He suddenly trips and falls and Josephine starts laughing her ass off, "Ahahaha! Serves you right!"

Eren clenches his teeth in anger and embarrassment, but that quickly fades into a smirk when he yanks on her leg causing her to fall too, "Karma's a bitch huh?"

"You suck Jaeger boy!" Josephine pouts slightly, but can't help but laugh.

"And you're stupid bunny rabbit!" He says teasingly.

From the distance their group of friends had stopped to watch them train. (Due to all their yelling).

"They're such cute dumb asses!" Sarah sighs.

"I know right, it's so perfect!~" Hanji Fangirls.

"Ever since the first day Eren and I met her, I knew he was gonna treat her differently.. But in a good way." Mikasa says.

"It's almost disgusting," Jean says.

"I think it's kinda refreshing, it's nice to see happiness before something so tense." Armin smiles.

"Welcome aboard the ship ladies and gentlemen!~ Place your bets now! Who's going to confess first?~" Hanji excitedly says.

"Joy will, Eren's too dense." Mikasa says. Hanji nods in agreement.

"I think Eren will, I mean look at him! He's always around her and messing with her. Look at the smile!" Armin says.

"Ugh, I know right?" Jean replies

gagging slightly.

"Look on the bright side horseface, if Eren confesses we can tease him about it!" Sarah snickers.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?!" Levi suddenly asks.

"Watching the the adorable dumb asses. They're surprisingly relaxed about everything." Sarah responds bluntly.

Levi looks at the two, chasing each other around; laughing and yelling insults at each other. 'This is relaxed?' He thinks to himself, "Oi! Quit fucking around!" He yells towards the two; the two quickly salute and scramble into a fighting stance _still_ yelling half-assed insults at each other. Levi 'tchs' "the same goes for the rest of you!"

**Time skip to near the end of training~**

Josephine is lying on the floor gasping for breath, "I- hate- training!"

"It wasn't that bad," Eren says.

"Easier- for you to say!-" she says in between pants, she sits up, "You made fifth!" She complains.

Levi walks over to the two, "Joy, get up." He commands. She groans in response and just lies back down.

"Get up. We're going to the lake nearby." Levi commands again.

"Lake why?" Eren asks.

"Erwin wants us to be 'prepared for anything' swimming is one of them I guess." Levi responds.

Josephine pops up immediately at the word 'swimming' eyes dilating with excitement, "Swimming?!" She grabs both their wrists, "What are we waiting for?!" Dragging them along.

"Wrong way dumb ass." Levi says.

"Lead the way then!" Josephine says letting go of their wrists.

the lake~

"It's beautiful! So blue and clear!~" Josephine excitedly says as she starts taking off her 3DMG, jacket and boots. While everyone looks at the water warily.

"Woah, woah! Why are you taking off your clothes?!" Eren asks.

"How the fuck do you even know how to swim?!" Someone else asks.

"So it's easier to swim, duh!~ and how else did I get to Wall Rose?" Josephine responds.

"I don't know, **By fucking boat?!**" Eren retorts. Josephine just shrugs.

"Put you clothes back on!" Levi commands, "If this was a real life scenario you wouldn't have time."

"B-but-" Josephine was interrupted by Levi kicking her into the water. Unbeknownst to everyone she surfaces slightly so her eyes are peaking out of the water she quickly grabs onto Levi's leg to try to drag him in; only to be kicked back into the water.

Josephine surfaces her entire head this time gasping for air, "You suck Banchou!" She complains as she tries to float on her back, "You're lucky I love water." Everyone stares at her as if she's crazy, "What? It isn't that bad look!" She says standing in the water.

"Don't tell us that when you're neck deep in water!" Sarah yells at her.

Josephine just laughs and starts swimming toward the end of the relatively small lake. Hesitantly everyone one joins in, but walks along the bottom instead. Everyone except Sarah.

"Cadet! Why aren't you participating?!" Auroro scolds.

"Cause me and water don't mix." Sarah says shooting him a glare.

He 'tchs', "What? Scared you're gonna get your hair wet?" Auroro says harshly.

"No. Look, I don't deal with-" She was interrupted by a swift kick into the water.

"Not so bad right?" Auroro says. She starts trying to keep her head above water before the splashing stops. She doesn't resurface. By this time Josephine was already near the edge of the lake where everyone began; scanning it. She notices Sarah's gone. 'This can't be good.' She thinks acknowledging Sarah's past with water.

"Where's Sarah?" She asks sternly.

"Oh that brat? I kicked her in, she wouldn't participate." Auroro says pridefully.

"**What?!**" She yells at him and quickly goes underwater to try to find her.

"What's going on here?" Levi asks. Josephine resurfaces, and points a finger at Auroro, **"This _imbecile_- pushed Sarah into the water- and she hasn't resurfaces since!"** She says in between pants. Levi quickly gets into the water to help her find Sarah. When they both her find they quickly grab each of her arms, careful to keep her head above water. As they reach the edge and remove themselves from the lake Levi begins CPR while Josephine turns to Auroro giving him a murderous glare.

"Auroro! Come here for a second will you?" She says sinisterly.

"Joy! Help me out here would you?" Levi commands. She 'tchs' shoots Auroro another glare and commands he doesn't move. She quickly punches Sarah in the gut and she spews out water coughing violently. Relieved, Levi and Hanji quickly take her to the infirmary. Auroro sees this as a chance to escape, but is quickly stopped by a bullet shot near his feet. Everyone's eyes are on Josephine as she fires another bullet, nicking his cheek.

"T-this bitch is trying to kill me!" Auroro screams.

Josephine slowly walks towards him, "_Me? Kill?_ **Never!** Hurt, possibly maim! _**But** **never kill!**_" She puts away her gun and responds slightly offended. She then laughs sinisterly, "Now that's settled!~ let's have a chat, _shall we?~_ she cracks her knuckles.

**the infirmary~ Sarah's POV:**

I slowly open my eyes to see that I'm in all white room. I sit up and feel a towel around me, "Where the fuck am I?" I murmur, as I lay my head in my hand.

"Oh good, you're awake." I know that monotone voice anywhere.

"Levi?"

"You're in the infirmary, you almost drowned." He explains. Right I remember that, I hope Jo is giving that dumb ass excuse of a superior one hell of a beating!

"Scared of thunder _and_ water you're filled with surprises." Levi says smirking slightly.

My face reddens with anger and embarrassment, "I'm human what can you expect?! I have reasonable reasons for them too!" I retort.

"Oh? And what would that be?" He asks crossing his arms over his chest. (Quite sassily too).

I hesitate for a moment, before taking a deep breath and looking him straight in the eyes, "Because that's how I fucking died."

**What? What do you mean _died_?** You're right here aren't you?" He asks with utter disbelief. Figures.

"When I was born I had a heart infection, pericarditis. When I was 7 my parents asked one of their most trusted friends about treatment for me, and he said that their was a plant outside the walls and across the lake. I told my parents I didn't trust him but they said they knew him for a long time so we could trust him. So we went outside the walls and got on a boat and were half way across the lake… when a titan came out the water and ate my parents… /right in front of me./ The boat suddenly capsized and as I'm falling in the water I see the survey Corps kill the titan, but they didnt see me because I was already under the water and I ended up dying. Then… a voice asked me what my wish was, and I said, 'I wanted to be able to judge people by what they've done.' So eventually I was able to get back into the wall and i heard that the guy my parents trusted; had told my parents a lie. They just wanted us out so there were less mouths to feed. Before I could use my new eyes I was captured by slave traders and sold to the inner wall."

**3rd POV:**

"So, wait. Let me get this straight. You died by drowning, and that's why your scared of water, but you also got eye powers from that?" Levi asks, slight exasperation in his voice.

"Pretty much, yeah." Sarah responds nonchalantly.

"What the fuck?! What's this eye power of yours anyway, before I ask anymore questions." Levi says pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Judgement eyes. If someone looks into my eyes they experience the pain and fear of their victims. I judge them with what I see. And if their eyes are burned then they are guilty if their shaken up then they have done some bad, but if they're not, they're innocent." Sarah explains.

Hanji suddenly runs up to Sarah and grabs her hands with hers wailing, "Why didn't you teelll meee?"

"Sorry! You know I love you Hanji!~ I honestly never used it since my first mission; plus Jo and Eren come back _pret-ty_ ragged after experiments with you sooo.." Sarah explains popping her lips.

"Mission?" Levi asks.

"After I was sold as a test to see if I was able to do jobs they sent me outside the wall. As soon as I make it outside the wall, I was chased by a titan who's laugh sounded like thunder. When I outran the titan and got to the wall no one was there waiting for me, so someone else let me in. I later found out that the plant they wanted me to get was something easily bought. Outraged I awaken my eyepowers and go crazy! My cries of guilt meshed with the thunder… and after I was brought down and they began punishing me… my cries of pain mixed with thunder, and the laughing of the humans sounded like the titans… I don't know why I'm gonna tell you this but.. You seem trustworthy enough. I'm not just afraid of thunder, I'm not just afraid of water.. I'm afraid of myself (my strength And weakness) and I'm afraid of humans cause their the real monsters."

It got really quiet after that, Hanji gives her a comforting hug, while Levi goes to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Suddenly Auroro limps in all battered and bloody.

Sarah laughs, "Serves you right! Ahahaha! I gotta thank Jo for this!"

As if on cue Josephine pokes her head through the door smiling wide, "You're welcome!~"

"Ahaha!~ Love ya Jo!" Sarah laughs. Josephine clicks her mouth and does that gun finger point thing as a response.

"Jooo! Could you come here for a second?" Hanji ushers her over as she finishes patching Auroro up. She walks over as Auroro quickly runs out of the infirmary, "Did you know that Sarah here, had eye abilities like you?"

"Yeah, of course!" Josephine replies nonchalantly.

Hanji pouts again, "You knew but didn't tell me eitheeeer?!"

"That wasn't exactly for me to tell, sorry Hanji! Love ya though!~" Josephine replies reassuring her.

"Wait." Levi calls their attention, "Sarah said she got her eye abilities from her last dying wish. You have _nine_."

Josephine just shrugs, "What can I say? I'm a cat I guess." The bell tolls signaling suppertime.

"**Food!~!**" Sarah and Josephine yell as they both get up and rush towards the mess hall with Levi and Hanji following suit. Suddenly Josephine stops when she hears a familiar voice say, _"She can remember and accept her past. She even used it to make her stronger. Why can't you?"_ Josephine shakes her head as if to clear the voice as she continues her way to the mess hall.


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's note: There's a lot of singing in this chapter xD links will be at the end c: Also! School is starting up soon, so I might not be able to upload as frequently, so I want to thank all the people leaving reviews and following and favoriting my story I really appreciate it!~ :,D Yo'k on with the story!**

**-Stay awesome Gotham!,**

** Summermangos :DD**

* * *

**Josephine's POV~ that night**

I open my eyes and there's chaos as far as the eye can see. People in shackles, houses reduced to rubble or on there way to reach that state, people being beaten, and even killed. I can feel my eyes start to well up, when a hand grabs me and drags me along with them. Is this? It's my brother he's dragging me along following people ahead of us. My parents? I look around yet again and their are dead people that I feel like I once knew; I feel tears well up. We're suddenly ambushed, my parents... They tell us to run ahead. I don't- I don't wanna leave them. I-I can help right?! I'm suddenly picked up as I see my parents beaten and shackled. I can hear sobs and I feel my own. I shut my eyes.

When I reopen them I'm in a beautiful house adorned with all sorts of things I know aren't from these walls.

"Jooy!~ Pay attention would you? He's gonna tell us a story again!" My brother says excitedly. He? I walk over to them and notice I'm not wearing the rags I once was, instead an oddly comfortable dress, I can tell I was wearing shorts underneath. _Oh I remember now_ I'm in Sina! That must mean this guy is-

"Mr. L.S! There's someone at the door!" My brother calls his attention. That's right! We used to call him Mr. Living Star! He would always tell us stuff about the night sky that we swore his eyes were stars.

"You're under arrest for heresy!" A stern voice calls. _This is when-_

"No!" I yell and rush towards them. I suddenly feel a sharp pain at my side. They quickly take Mr. LS away.

"Are you what he's been hiding?" A disgusting voice asks, yanking me up by my collar.

"Don't touch her!" I hear a voice yell as the man winces in pain. He drops me almost instantly. I see my brother holding one of Mr. LS' instruments, now broken from hitting the man from the military police.

"Stupid kid!" He yells as he harshly kicks my brother to the side and steps on him. _No!_ "Stop! Leave him alone!" I cry.

"Oh? And what's a little girl like you gonna do?" I feel myself being thrown to the side and my back smashing against the wall. My vision starts to fade to nothingness. _I wish I could scare that shit out of you bastards._ My vision suddenly returns and it's as if I haven't even been hurt. The military police are still here, and so is my big brother. We have to get out of here! Without thinking I run over to him. They tell me to get out of the way, but I just glare at them, and for some reason... They scream in terror and run away.. _right._ I get nightmare eyes here. I help my brother up as we go to patch ourselves up. I lean my head on his shoulder, shut my eyes and cry.

I reopen them to find my brother and I in rags again, wandering the streets. We stumble upon gallows... I remember this... This is where he- I could see Mr. LS looking at us. He gives us a weak smile as he walk towards the gallows and I see his lips move to tell us something, but I'm too scared to hear. He steps up on the little pedestal and- I shut my eyes tight once again.

After what seemed to be an eternity I reopen them to find we're in the undergrounds this time. We're both battered and bruised. I see another thug try to hit us again, when suddenly I see a flash of red. I remember her! Izzy-nee san!

"Get away from them! You dumbasses!" She yells after them; they quickly charge for her when suddenly someone kicks them out of the way, and starts beating the shit out of them, Levi! Izzy-nee San and uncle Farlan tend to us as the thugs run away from Levi. He give his signature 'tch' as he turns towards all of us. "When will you stop getting into shit?!" He scolds Izzy-nee san.

"And why would I just leave these two kids here?" She retorts, "I know it's hard enough with the three of us already, but we can't just leave them here!" He looks at uncle Farlan for some reassurance that they didn't have to take care of us. He stares right back at him and says, "They could die like this Levi. They already almost did." Levi, 'tchs' and squats down to take a good look at us. I see my brother glaring him down, while I have a blank look on my face.

He sighs and very hesitantly pats our heads, "Fine. Fine. We can help them out." Izzy-nee san cheers in delight as she ushers me onto her back, and uncle Farlan does the same to my brother. I lean my head on her shoulder, and fall asleep. My eyes burst open to the sound of Izzy-nee San cursing. I look around to see they've been captured by the survey corps. Ah, I remember this. Izzy-neesan looks towards us as I grasp my brother's arm, "What about the kids?! You can't just leave them here! We took care of them you know!" She yells towards the survey corps soldiers. I smile knowing that she cares for us, but that quickly fades as I know that I'll never be able to see her again after this. I see Erwin approach us and squat down to our level and give us a pitying look, "They'll be sent to Wall Maria."

"Take them away." I hear another voice say, as we're being dragged away from them.

"Stay strong okay, Kiddos?!" I hear Izzy-neesan yell, and I can't help but cry.

I'm suddenly shaken awake, "Joy?" I open them to see my brother, "Why are you crying?" He asks. I sit up and feel my cheeks; shocked that I have been crying. He notices this and laughs slightly, "I'm off to work okay? I might stop by the market too, so I might come home late. Don't go outside." He commands, "you know the rumors going around about us."

I hug my knees, "are they really rumors if they're true?"

He gives me sympathetic smile, "Look, we aren't street rats, or freeloaders, or monsters okay? It won't be for long. We just have to get you to control your powers a little!" He says as he boops me on the nose, "I'm off!" I wait about a hour or so after he leaves before venturing outside. There was a beautiful field of flowers that I loved going to. I remember I would just lie there sometimes, or even make flower crowns. Today I intend to just that! As I arrive I was suddenly hit on the side of the head, and being yanked up by my hair.

"Is this one of the monsters rumored to live here?" A man's voice asks.

"Check if her eyes are red!" Another responds. I squirm and kick and unintentionally turn on freezing eyes, as the man grasping my hair yanks me to his eye level. The man grasping at my hair suddenly freezes in place.

"No doubt about it now! **Kill it!**" The other man goes to swing at me as my eyes widen in fear.

"Don't touch her!" A voice yells.. Eren! The man suddenly get tackled to the ground, and Mikasa and Eren are fighting him off with the fire wood they've gathered. I quickly and as hard as I can kick the man grasping in the stomach; he immediately drops me. I land the wrong way on my ankle and I wince in pain. The man charges me once again, but is blocked by Eren swinging a piece of fire wood at his crotch. He doubles over in pain. The other man gets up, and hold Eren and Mikasa; the man that grasped my hair grabs a knife and charges at me, "No!" I wail as freezing eyes turn on again. He immediately freezes in place. I'm so tired of people like these. Why won't they leave us alone?! I have to give them a reason too.. _Nightmare._ He suddenly unfreezes, and backs away and screams, "Stay back! Monster!"

"**Leave! Both of you!**" I sternly yell at the two men.

"H-hey, what's wrong? Just kill it!" The men holding Mikasa and Eren. Eren bites the man's hand and they're both immediately dropped. He curses at them as he draws out his knife. _Awaken._ As quick as light I grab the knife of the man still cowering in fear, and launch it at the other's hand.

"**Leave.**" I order once more, "Leave. And don't tell a soul what you've seen. Or else." _nightmare._ They both scream and run away. I smile triumphantly as everything fades to black...

I open my eyes yet again to find myself in Mikasa and Eren's house. "Oh, good you're awake!" Auntie Carla says as she approaches me. I quickly cover my eyes.

"It's okay, you're safe now here." I hear Uncle Grisha say. I just shake my head and bury my face deeper in my hands.

"I know the world can be scary. I used to be scared myself, but.. Wouldn't it be much better to live without that fear?" I hear Mikasa say.

"You're safe here!" Eren adds.

"They'll treat you like their own." Mikasa adds.

"B-but is it really ok? I-is it really ok for you to care for a monster like me?" I whisper.

"Of course it is!" The two yell.

"You aren't even a monster anyway! What you did back there was really cool! You were like a superhero!" Eren excitedly adds. I'm utterly shocked. Super hero? I've never though of it that way.. I slowly remove my hands and look at them. They both smile at me, and I hug them tight as I shut my eyes to prevent the flood of tears to fall...

I reopen them again, and I'm on my brother's back.. I hear Eren scream for Auntie Carla as a resounding chomp can be heard.. No. Nonono. Anything but this I don't wanna remember this. My brother suddenly trips. No- no! I'm not gonna lose you again! "Get up!" I yell, as I try to pull him up. His eyes tear up, as he gives me the 'be a hero' speech. "No! No! I'm not leaving you here!" He pushes me ahead as we both feel the thundering steps of a Titan. He limps off in the other direction, as I refuse to look back and keep running. I suddenly hear his ear splitting scream. Nonono! Why didn't I save him?! Why didn't I go back?! I shut my eyes tight once again.

I reopen then to find my comrades slowly getting eaten one by one. Even Armin! Nonono! "**Armin!**" I yell as I reach out for him. Eren pushes me out of the way, and reaches into the Titan's mouth pulling him out. Eren's in the Titan's mouth reaching out for us now, he's all bloody... It suddenly hits me. _Trost._ Me and Armin quickly try to reach for his hand, but the Titan chomps down before we can even grasp him... His arm comes flying off and Armin and I become sprayed in his blood... I can't take this anymore! I've seen so many people die! No more- **I don't want to remember anymore!** Blood everywhere.. It's scent mingling with our own- I bring my hand to my mouth. I can't take it anymore.. '_Ah, but you must remember. You've sugar coated everything, and lied about the feels for so long. It's high time you remember the truth,' _the ominous voice calls out to me again,_ 'Now, you should know what happens next. You've kept your powers under wraps for so long! Reopen those eyes of yours.' _My eyes suddenly shoot open. Ah, I remember this. This is where I go apeshit. I hug Armin and leap off the roof._ Ahh!~ Truly lovely! Heh. See you soon._ Everything suddenly fades to a blinding white.

I wake up in my bed in a cold sweat, tears streaming down my face as I gasp for breath. I sit up and place my forehead in my palm. No more, please tell me this is real life! I sigh, and look around. This. This is finally real. Bits and pieces of my reminiscent nightmare come back to me as that voice- That fucking voice rings yet again, _Remember and use it to your advantage. We all must come to accept our pasts. There are more horrendous things in this world, you have to be prepared._ What if I can't?! I tug at my bangs and sigh. I need some air. I put on my shoes and wrap my blanket around me as I walk around the castle. After awhile of walking around I notice a door cracked I peer through and see it's filled with all sorts of instruments. I walk up the the simple, yet beautiful wooden piano. Remember and accept?.. I sigh, I guess venting will help? I mean it kinda helped before... I take a seat at the piano, take a deep breath and begin;

_*2 a.m., where do I begin?_  
_Crying off my face again_  
_The silent sounds of loneliness_  
_Wants to follow me to bed_

_I'm a ghost of a girl that I want to be most_  
_I'm the shell of a girl that I used to know well_

_Dancing slowly in an empty room_  
_Can the lonely take the place of you?_  
_I sing myself a quiet lullaby_  
_Let you go and let the lonely in to take my heart again..._

I hear Sarah's voice as she sits next to me, continuing the song;

**Too afraid to go inside  
For the pain of one more loveless night  
But the loneliness will stay with me  
And hold me 'til I fall asleep**

I'm a ghost of a girl that I want to be most  
I'm the shell of a girl that I used to know well

Dancing slowly in an empty room  
Can the lonely take the place of you?  
I sing myself a quiet lullaby  
Let you go and let the lonely in to take my heart again  


We both sing;

_**Broken pieces of**_  
_**A barely breathing story**_  
_**Where there once was love**_  
_**Now there's only me and the lonely..**_

_**Dancing slowly in an empty room**_  
_**Can the lonely take the place of you?**_  
_**I sing myself a quiet lullaby**_  
_**Let you go and let the lonely in to take my heart again...***_

**3rd POV**

Josephine plays the last few notes, and let's it ring. They both sigh, "So, how did you know I was down here?" she asks turning to Sarah.

"I heard you walk out and followed you here." Sarah replies matter-of-factually.

Josephine sighs, "You feeling kinda down too?"

"Yeah.. Stupid Levi making me remember shit!" Sarah hisses, she sighs, "but singing did help! You good Jo?"

Josephine rests her head in her palm and shakes her head, "Unfortunately not.. The heavy ice in my heart doesn't want to melt yet. I don't really blame it either; things are kinda fucked up." she lets out a little soft laugh, "That's why that song was so sad."

"Well then, you know what to do!" Sarah says handing her a guitar. Josephine takes it from her, takes a deep breath again and begins;

**_The blue ocean that the red sun used to wash its face turns black_

_The white sky that had clouds and rain and the wind turns gray_  
_I leave the darkness that finds my heart_  
_Even the cold shadow that covers the night starts to harden_

_If the ice melts, a warmer song would have come out_  
_But why is the ice so cold? Why is it so cold?_  
_Why are they so cold_  
_Why are they so cold_

_The blue ocean that the red sun used to wash its face_  
_I look at the past warmth that is deeply buried (too late get it out)_  
_I wish the cold in the world would be gone too_  
_I wish the frozen love will melt away now_

_I leave the darkness that finds my heart_  
_Even the cold shadow that covers the night starts to harden_

_If the ice melts, a warmer song would have come out_  
_But why is the ice so cold? Why is it so cold?_

_If the ice melts, a warmer song would have come out_  
_But why is the ice so cold? Why is it so cold?_  
_Why are they so cold_  
_Why are they so cold **_

Josephine breathes the last few words, and sighs.

"Better?" Sarah asks.

"A little, yeah.." Josephine softly replies.

"Well," Sarah yawns, "Ima go back to sleep, it's still pretty early. You comin'?"

"Nah, I'm gonna walk around still." Josephine replies. Sarah just shrugs and walks back towards their room. Josephine sighs yet again and walks to the supply room with the guitar strapped to her back. Thoughts zooming through her head about the expedition her past, that voice etc.. When she arrives, she grabs a bucket of cold water, and dunks her head in. After what seemed like forever; she finally brings her head up. Gasping for air she thinks to herself, '_Don't think too much. Just survive._'

Suddenly Eren pops his head through the door, "Joy? Why are you up?"

She gives him a blank look, "I should be saying that to you."

"Well, I couldn't sleep and decided to walk around. I ended up finding Sarah now you." He explains.

She just shrugs, sits and leans the guitar next to her, "Now what?"

Eren frowns, "What's with that attitude?!"

"Look Jaeger boy, I don't mean to be rude, but my brain is fried I'm tired. So if you're here for something then just spit it out already." She retorts.

"Here." he says as he throws a folded piece of paper at her, "Just wanted to remind you why you joined the survey corps." He turns toward the door. She looks at questioningly before unfolding it. On the very top of the paper it read 'Silent'; it was a little poem of sorts, she remembered she wrote with the trio a long time ago.

She bolts out the door and catches him by the wrist, "Wait-" he turns toward her, "You- you kept this? All this time?" She asks him.

"Of course I did! It's a nice reminder." Eren replies.

"Do you.. Do you want to hear it?" She asks him. He gives her a confused look, but nods anyway as she drags him back to the supply room. As soon as they arrive, Josephine picks up the guitar and begins to strum; ***Wake up in a new day, but it don't feel that new,  
Same faces around me with the same point of view  
Everything is perfect, and everything's okey  
Just swallow the lies and let your emotions fade  
But my heart won't be quiet, I feel a change

No more black and white, this life's too colorful  
Beautiful, don't know know what lies ahead, but

I'm ready now, it's time  
(Gotta go, gotta get out of this town  
Leave my fear behind  
(Nothing left for me here, can't stick around)  
My dreams are loud and my heart wide awake  
And all I know is I'm not meant to be silent

Wake up to a new voice telling me where to  
Go, sounds like i got no choice, but to keep on this road  
Got my own opinion, my own words to say  
Got my own vision so I know I can't stay, there's  
No looking back now, I feel a change

I'm ready now, it's time  
(Gotta go, gotta get out of this town  
Leave my fear behind  
(Nothing left for me here, can't stick around)  
My dreams are loud and my heart wide awake  
And all I know is I'm not meant to be silent

No more black and white, this life's too colorful  
Beautiful, don't know know what lies ahead, but

I'm ready now, it's time, leave my fear behind  
My dreams are loud and my hearts wide awake  
And all I know is, I'm not meant to be silent  
(I'm ready know it's time, yeah)

Gotta go, gotta get out of this town  
(Leave my fear behind me)  
Nothing left for me hear can't stick around  
(I'm ready now, it's time, yeah)  
(I'm ready know it's time, yeah)  
Gotta go, gotta get out of this town  
(And leave my fear behind me)  
Nothing left for me hear can't stick around  
(I'm ready now it's time, yeah)  
My dreams are loud and my heart's wide awake  
And all I know is I'm not meant to be silent~ ***

Josephine sighs contently while Eren looks in awe, "You play guitar?! And you can sing?!"

"Yup." She just replies smiling.

"You're filled with surprises you know that bunny rabbit?!" Eren says exasperated.

Josephine laughs, "You bet Jaeger boy! No, but really, thanks. That made feel a lot better." He smiles back slightly in response. There they sat for the rest of the dawn; falling asleep smiling, unable to see the tragedy to come...

* * *

*Lonely- Christina Perri: watch?v=HO4e4nCYBEo

**Melted- AKMU: watch?v=EyfandDTvc8 Guitar watch?v=jQO32XDF0Ik

***Silent- Tori Kelly: watch?v=yCIXnFyb0ks


	17. Chapter 17

**3rd POV**

The gates are open. The command, "**Onward!**" Is yelled. The 57th expedition has begun. After reaching the old city there was no body to help kill and distract the titans, and everyone sets up into their designated area in the formation.

**Josephine's POV:**

Sarah, Eren, and I, are with the 'Levi squad' near the center and toward the rear (row 5 center). The safest area in the formation. (We were placed here due to our abilities). After about an hour or so of riding everything seemed okay, but is everything really okay? I've seen multiple smoke rounds fired. Some green indicating change of command, some red for titans, some black for aberrants. Each time I see a round fired my nerves get worse and worse. I hope everyone's okay! I shut my eyes and breathe in, stop it! It'll be fine. It'll be fine. _Don't think too much. Just survive._

"Smoke round. Green. Oluo you fire it." Banchou commands. Not even a few seconds later someone approaches our squad.

"Reporting! Message to pass along! Right flank has been destroyed! Our recon system is partially inoperative. Pass this to the left." The entire right flank?! This is getting bad..

"Petra, did you hear that? Go." Banchou- no, corporal commands. As Petra veers off to the left. Suddenly multiple black rounds are fired. Aberrants?! This far into the formation?! _Shitshitshit._

"Eren, you fire it." Corporal commands. As the round is fired I can't help but think of the lives being risked under them.

3rd POV: As the Female Titan advances onward, she kills everyone who tries to intervene, as if they were nothing. Almost as if it were a game. Swinging them around and punting them out of the way... Word is starting travel fast about this Titan amongst the squads, as they all head toward the forest of giant trees. Erwin orders only the center can enter the forest, while everyone must go around it. The recruits (outside the forest) are suddenly stopped and told to stop and wait above the trees for the counter attack.

"What's with this? Our formation is gone, the recon is inoperable. You'd think we'd high-tail it out of here, but here we are just standing here. What the hell is that nutcase of a commander thinking?" Jean rants.

"Jean what're you gonna do?" Armin warns.

"What am I gonna do? Follow orders. You think it's the right thing too right? I'm just a little worked up is all." Jean reassures him.

"Five meter up ahead!" Someone yells...

**Back in the center~**

"Corporal! Corporal Levi!" Eren calls his attention.

"What?" Levi responds slightly irritated.

"The center entered the forest alone. We won't be able to see if titans are approaching! How are we supposed to protect the carts or-"

"Stop stating the obvious." Levi interrupts him, "Look around. Look at all these big ass trees. It's perfect for 3-D Maneuver Gear. Now, use that tiny brain of yours."

"The others are at the edge of the forest and are guarding it as well." Josephine reports using '_exploring eyes_'.

'_I see_', Eren thinks, '_I have to think, no one will just give me a straight forward answer. This is probably how they all learned how to fight._' He turn to each one of his superiors each with a look of fear on their face. '_Wait that's not it. No one- no one really knows what's going on right now.. Probably not even corporal!_'

"A black round! From right behind us! Whatever was approaching us from the right is now getting closer!" Gunther yells.

"Draw your blades." Levi orders.

"Shit. So it finally come to this, huh?" Josephine murmurs to herself.

She's suddenly elbowed on the arm, "Let's kick ass Jo!" Sarah reassures her. As quick as light the Female Titan appears and swats someone out of the sky. It's running for the center squad now, and it tries to grab Eren. He luckily dodges, and the Titan slams against some trees, but quickly gets right back up. Hearts are racing as they try to outrun it. _She's fast!_ It's practically impossible to attack and evade her attacks at this rate.

"Captain! Let's switch to maneuver gear! Captain!" Petra yells with urgency. Suddenly reinforcements appear from the rear, but they're no match for the Female Titan; she quickly grabs their wires and squashes them like insects. Quickly gaining up on Levi's squad. Josephine quickly activates concealing eyes.

"Captain! Your orders?!" Petra yells.

"We have to kill it now! It's gaining up on us!" Josephine yells.

"I'll rip you apart!" Erd yells.

"Fuck yeah!" Sarah agrees.

"Corporal your orders?! Why aren't you moving?! That's why we came here right to take her down right?!" Josephine yells towards Levi. Everyone looks towards him, she's right, he isn't moving. They all yell for his orders, "Captain!"

"Captain Levi! The orders?!"

"Captain! Banchou! Levi!"

"Levi! Get it together! Bitch-baby!"

He look towards them with one simple order, "Cover your ears." He shoots a sound grenade.

"Gah! A sound grenade?" Josephine asks.

"What is your job? To be swayed by what your feeling at the moment? No. It's not. Our squad's job is to make sure this brat doesn't get a single scratch on him. Even if it cost our lives." Levi scolds.

'It wasn't to just keep watch on me?' Eren thinks baffled, "What about Sarah and Joy? Aren't they to be protected too?"

"No. Our abilities are different from yours Eren," Josephine explains, "We were put in the center to help protect you, and our powers assist with that." Eren stares at her shocked.

"We stay on our horses, got it?" Levi orders.

"Roger." Everyone but Sarah says.

"For how long?!" Sarah asks.

"Reinforcements!" Eren suddenly yells, "If we don't help they'll all get killed again!"

"Eyes on the road!" Gunther scolds, "We have to keep up this pace!"

"But sir! If Levi's squad doesn't do it who will?!" Eren retorts. Slowly each reinforcement is getting squashed like a bug, as Eren continues to rant on how they could've saved them.

**"Enough Eren!"** Josephine yells at him.

"**But Joy!-**"

"**Just stop it already!..** We can't okay?! Just- just follow orders! We have to make it out of here alive!" She interrupts him.

"**Are you telling me to just look away?! To just abandon them?!**" Eren retorts. Josephine grits her teeth.

"**Yes that's right!**" Petra responds for her.

"**I don't understand why we're leaving them behind?! Or why won't captain explain! Why?!**" Eren continues.

"That's just because the Captain decided not to explain the reason. You just don't get cause you're still new!" Oluo responds.

"**See?! So just just shut the fuck up already!**" Sarah yells towards him.

"We don't have to know! Just trust and obey orders!" Josephine adds.

Eren grits his teeth and sheaths his sword, '_No, I can fight it myself. Why am I relaying on others?_' Eren thinks as he brings his hand to his mouth.

"**Jaeger! You better fucking not!**" Josephine yells at him, "**You're only allowed to use that if _your_ life is in danger! Jaeger! _Think of the consequences!_**" He brings his hand into his mouth.

"**Eren! You promised us!**" Petra scolds as well.

"You aren't wrong. If you want to do it, do it." Levi suddenly speaks up, "I can tell, he's a real monster. And it was nothing to do with his Titan power. No matter how we try to suppress him; he will never submit to anyone. Eren. The difference between your decision and ours is experience, but you don't have to rely on that. The same goes for you two, Sarah and Joy. You didn't have to wait for me to give you the order to conceal us or to tell us about the others. You just did." Josephine puts her head down at her hypocrisy. "Now," Levi continues, "Choose. Believe in yourself or in the Survey corps and me. I don't know. I never have. I can believe in my own abilities or the choice of companions I trust, but in the end no one knows how it'll turn out. Choose. Choose the one you'll regret the least."

Eren looks behind him once more, as another reinforcement dies. He grits his teeth an brings his hand back to his mouth.

"Have faith Eren!" Petra says to him. He suddenly has a flashback to when he first tried to make himself transform. How it failed and how he transformed unexpectedly. How they all drew their weapons on him. He grits his teeth... But then he remembers how they all apologized to him. Unbeknownst to him, Josephine was wondering about what he was going to do and activated reading eyes. She saw his entire flashback.

She rides up to him, "Eren! I'm sorry, I didn't know it was _that_ hard on you. I'm sorry for not being there for you. I hope you can forgive me, and realize," she bites her hand just like back then, "you can rely on me too."

"**Hurry up and decide!**" Gunther yells at him.

Eren shuts his eyes tight, "**I'll keep going forward!**" As soon as he says that the Female Titan picks up speed. When it feels like almost all hope is lost something is shot at her feet. Ceasing movement from both Levi's squad and the Titan.

"**Fire!**" Erwin command and now the Female Titan is being shot at on all sides. As Levi's squad escapes. Josephine turns off concealing eyes.

"Advance a bit farther, tether the horses, and switch to maneuver gear." Levi orders, "You guys will be on your own for awhile. Erd, lead the squad. Once you're a good distance away from the Titan, hide Eren. Take my horse." With that Levi jumps off his horse.

Josephine looks back at the female Titan, "Don't tell me that we- Did we actually capture that Titan?!" Everyone one looks back quickly at the Titan.

"Damn. You guys are awesomer than I thought!" Sarah exclaims.

"Fools! Don't doubt the power of the survey corps!" Oluo exclaims proudly.

"Right!" Eren replies.

"Nice job getting it here." Erwin praises Levi.

"If it wasn't for the reinforcements giving up their lives, we wouldn't have made this far." Levi says.

"I see…" Erwin trails off.

"Let's just see who's in this Titan. I hope they haven't pissed their pants." Levi says.


	18. Chapter 18

As they finally arrive deeper within the forest; they did what was instructed and are now in the trees.

"Commander Erwin's plan was to capture the female Titan all along, right? I guess I can now see why he didn't tell the new troops, but why not the rest of you?" he turns to the superiors, "You've all been in the survey corps for a long time!" Eren questions.

"Are you saying that Commander and captain don't trust us?!" Petra retorts.

"Petra! Rip out his teeth and swap the front teeth for the back when you shove them back in!" Oluo yells.

"No, Eren's right." Erd reassures, "There has to be a reason why commander couldn't trust us."

"Like what?" Sarah asks.

"There's only way he wouldn't trust his fellow soldiers, a spy helping them out in the survey corps. He most likely only told the people who've been alive for the past five years." Erd explains.

"That makes sense, Commander must be assuming that five years ago, back when the first wall fell, a spy infiltrated the survey corps." Petra adds.

"Do you think that maybe back then, the spy also killed Sonny and Bean?" Josephine asks aloud.

"I remember Commander asking me something like that!" Petra says surprised.

'So that's what that question meant!' Eren thinks to himself, 'if this succeeds I can get closer to the truth of this world, but at the cost of so many lives..' His expression becomes grim.

"I knew all along!" Oluo brags, "I just didn't wanna say anything you wanna know why?"

"No one gives a fuck." Sarah hisses towards him.

"Because you bit you're tongue for the fifteenth billion time?" Josephine sarcastically says.

He shoots at the glare at the two, "I wouldn't expect the likes of you to know."

"Stop acting like captain, it's seriously annoying!" Petra scolds.

As the three mess with Oluo more; back where Erwin and the others are, they try to cut out the person controlling the female Titan.

"How do you like it? The way these wires work is the more you move the more you wouldn't be able to move!~" Hanji says in excitement, "What's Levi and Mike doing anyway?" Just as she says that Levi and Mike try to cut through her hands to reach the nape, but it oddly crystallizes causing their swords to break.

'We don't have time to find out if we can weaken it by continually using out swords..' Erwin thinks. "Amputate it's wrist using the cannons. Fire them all at once on my signal." He commands.

"Why won't you come on out already, do you have any idea how much time we're wasting on you? I know you understand me." Levi says to the Female Titan, "Oh, and one more thing. Is it okay if we cut off your hands and legs off?" Levi says sinisterly, "Not your Titan's but _yours._ It'll grow back right?" Suddenly the Titan gives an ear splitting roar sounding all throughout the forest, and Titans come running in the forest from all directions.

"I've heard a scream like that before!" Sasha yells causing Mikasa to stop in her tracks, "It's the cry of a cornered animal that has nothing left to lose! We have to take a hundred times more caution!" Sasha warns. As the Titans advance forward, it pays no mind to anyone but the Female Titan, biting at her flesh, destroying the evidence. Quickly everyone engages into battle to guard the Female Titan. Blood and steam is all that can be seen, as swords rip through countless Titan napes, yet to no avail. Countless others appear replacing the ones slain; over and over again it repeats.

Till finally Erwin yells, "**Retreat! Back in formation! We're returning to Karanes!**"

"All our talk at the court martial and this happens. Who knows what'll happen to Eren or us when we come up empty handed." Levi perches on a branch and says.

"We can think about that later. What we need to focus on now is to get home without anymore casualties." Erwin responds.

With that blue smoke signals filled the air signaling retreat.

"We're retreating! Go grab your horses!" Gunther informs the squad.

"You heard him! Let's go see the bastard in the Titan!" Oluo says.

"Do we really get to see the who was inside it?" Josephine asks.

"That's right, and it's all thanks to you three!" Petra responds.

"But we didn't really-"

"Eren you trusted us! Joy, you kept us hidden and informed us, Sarah, you kept us motivated! Because of all that we made it through! And you guys did all that without orders! Making the right decision is hard, but you all did it!" Petra cheerily says.

"You. You are the nicest person I have ever met Petra!" Josephine wails.

"Don't spoil them Petra! They were really annoying! Eren always whining, this one always always cursing," Oluo says pointing to Sarah, "and this one always mumbling to herself or just scolding Eren! But not bad for your first expedition! You guys are still alive! But let me tell you a secret kiddos; the expedition isn't over till you're safe in your beds at home." Oluo says as he walks over.

"Of course not!" Josephine yells after him.

"I thought we were just gonna sleep in the fucking forest!" Sarah sarcastically adds.

"Geez, I already know that!" Eren replies too.

The three of them jump off the tree as Erd turns around, "Congrats you guys, you've done pretty well for your first expedition! On Petra and Oluo's first expedition they pissed their pants! They're so grown up now!"

Oluo curses Erd while Petra screams in horror, "**Don't say that! What if they stop respecting me?!**"

"So it's true than?" Eren says, as Sarah laughs so hard her can barely breathe.

"I didn't piss my pants by the way," Erd reassures the newbies.

"Don't worry Petra I still think you're awesome!" Josephine reassures her.

"Wait does that mean it sprayed everywhere in mid-air?!" Eren asks. Josephine bursts out laughing, "I'm sorry- I'm- Oh my god- just imagining it-!" She says in between laughs. Petra pouts.

"We still love you though!" Sarah reassures her as Josephine nods in agreement.

"Hey, cut it out! This isn't a picnic!" Gunther scolds, "... I didn't piss my pants either!" He defensively says. Suddenly a green smoke round is fired, "That's definitely Captain Levi." He shoots a green smoke round as a response. As they continue onward to meet with Levi... Or so they thought. Suddenly Gunther is cut from the sky by a mysterious hooded figure. Eren rushes to his aid only to find that he's dead.

"**Onward!**" Oluo yells as he throws Eren forward, "**Erd, where do we go?!**"

"**There's no time to reach our horses head to HQ as quickly as possible!**" Erd orders.

"Was this from the Female Titan or maybe was there more than one?!" Josephine questions.

"**Damn you, Come at me! I'll face you even if it kill me!**" Petra threatens. The hooded figure suddenly disappears from sight.

"Shit." Josephine curses as she quickly try to turn on exploring eyes. She gasps, "It's-" she was interrupted by lighting and thunder booming through the forest,"**It's the Female Titan!**" She finishes as it runs straight for them.

"**Damn you! I'll defeat this time for sure!**" Eren curses as he brings his hand to his mouth.

"**Don't!**" Erd warns, "The three of us will kill it. Jo! Sarah!" He calls to them, "Escort Eren back to the HQ! Hurry!" He commands.

"Let us fight too!" Sarah retorts.

"We're not just gonna leave you guys here!" Josephine adds.

"We can handle it!" Eren adds.

"Don't! This is the best move! Eren, your power is to risky, and you two have to make sure he makes it out alive! That's our job!"

"Don't doubt us!" Oluo scolds. Eren grits his teeth, but advances forward, "I believe in my squad's victory! Good luck!" He shouts.

"What about you two do you not trust us either?" Petra asks.

"That's not it!" Josephine retorts.

"We can help! We're not just gonna leave-" Sarah starts.

"Then go! You trust us right? Then let us kill it." Petra orders.

"You're wasting time just go guard Eren! We'll handle this!" Erd scolds. They grit their teeth but advance forward, "Kick that bitch's ass!" They both yell. Petra smiles at their encouraging words as they all turn to face the Female Titan. Erd tries to land the first hit, but she tries to grab his wires. He quickly dodges and blows gas into her face; providing an opening for Oluo and Petra. They quickly latch onto each side of her face and slash her eyes.

'_Its blind for a good couple minutes! We have to kill it now!_'

_'Forget capturing it! We're killing this bitch right here!_'

'_Lets make this bitch of a Titan pay!_', they each think. With that they begin cutting off muscle around the shoulders in an effort to make her drop her arms. As soon as they drop they go to shave off the muscle around the neck.

"They're so unbelievably strong!" Sarah says in amazement.

"They can co-op without even speaking to each other!" Eren adds.

"Trust huh? Is that why they do so well?" Josephine asks aloud.

'_That's why they were able to pick right back up after Gunther died! They trust each other, and their abilities! I finally understand! I'll keep going and trust them, because surely that's the right thing to do!_' Suddenly Levi's words ring in his head as doubt begins to fill him. He looks back. As soon as he does Erd gets his head chomped off. He screams catching the attention of the two. They quickly stop and turn around with him.

"**Erd!**" Petra screams. '_Its been no more than thirty seconds how has it- one eye! It only regenerated one eye is that even possible?!_' Petra thinks in horror as she she tries to recover from shock. The Female Titan suddenly charges straight for her.

"**Petra! We need to regroup now! Petra!**" Oluo yells for attention, but it's to late.. The female Titan stomps her against a tree.

"**Petra!**" Josephine screams in pure horror. While Eren can't even fathom words just scream in utmost horror, and Sarah grits her teeth. They increase their speed to try to get to them quicker; while Oluo tries to cut the titan's nape, but to no avail. The nape just crystalizes breaking his swords. The Female Titan jump kicks him into a tree, killing him. Josephine and Sarah look at each other knowingly, before swooping down towards the Female Titan.

"Wait!" Eren scolds, but it's too late. The Female Titan sees them and swats them away. Luckily the two anticipated this and manage to barely dodge as Josephine grips onto a branch, and Sarah onto her legs.

"Let go! You're too heavy!" Josephine yells.

"No way that's a far drop!" Sarah retorts. The branch starts to crack.

"Sarah!" Josephine scolds.

"What?!" She retorts.

"Move! The branch is going to-" the branch suddenly cracks causing them to descend; they quickly use their maneuver gear and swing upwards back into the tree tops.

"Bitch, I told you so!" Josephine scolds.

"Whatever bitch! You're boyfriend is about to get mauled!" Sarah yells pointing towards Eren. The Female Titan is now charging towards Eren as he quickly dodges.

"**I know what you're thinking Jaeger! Don't you _dare_ stick your hand in you're fucking mouth, or I will personally cut them off!**" Josephine yells towards him. Before he can even object Josephine activates conceal and swoops in front of the Female Titan's eye, she grips onto a strand of the Titan's hair and looks directly into it's working eye _freeze._ it hinders it's movement.

"**Sarah, now! It most likely won't last for long!**" Josephine orders.

Sarah quickly dives for the Titan's neck, but as soon as she goes near it, the Female Titan breaks out the trance and shields a hand protectively at it. Causing Sarah to curse and slash at the hands only for her swords to break due to the crystallization.

"Fuck." Sarah curses as she perches on a branch. The Female Titan takes a good look at Josephine before grabbing her by her hood, and tossing her away. launching her straight into a tree. She clumsily gets a hook into the tree and swings away from it, but the hook came undone causing her to swing into another one and fall and roll on the floor.

"_**Jo!**_" "_**Joy!**_" The two yell. Sarah quickly goes to her. Her head is bleeding slightly, and her vision is terribly blurred.

Sarah lays Josephine's head on her lap slapping her cheeks, "Hey, hey! Stay with me you got that? We still got a bitch to cut in the name of humanity! Hey!" Slowly Josephine begins to lose consciousness.

Eren looks in horror at his fallen superiors and his unconscious best friend, "I**- I'm going to kill you!**" He screams as he he brings his hand into his mouth and bites. A bolt of lighting flashes and his Titan form appears, with it he gives a resounding roar catching the attention of everyone in the forest. As he charges at the Female Titan. Levi and Mikasa quickly rush to where the roar was sounded. Eren goes to punch the Female Titan but she quickly dodges and kicks him in the gut; he quickly pushes her away into a tree. Punch after punch is thrown at her as she quickly tries to dodge.

'_Come on get up! You can do it!' _The ominous voice rings in Josephine's head again_, You've done it before! Open those eyes of yours, and I mean really this time. Don't conceal anything anymore, just let your soul go._/ Suddenly a strange aura appears around Josephine.

"J-Jo?" Sarah look at her warily.

The aura starts to build up around her before finally, her eyes shoot open revealing dark red eyes. In a soft yet clear voice she says, "**_Awaken._**" Levi quickly jumps down towards them from the branch he was perched on.

"Levi! How long have you been there? Everyone they- And Eren he-" Sarah fumbles to explain.

"I know." Is the simple answer Levi gives. Sarah looks at him worriedly, but he pays no mind, "what's wrong with her? Is she still alive?" Levi asks pointing at the still aura surrounded Josephine.

She laughs sinisterly before sitting up, "Come on. I believe we have a bitch to catch- no _**kill!~**_" She uses her maneuver gear to launch herself upwards and towards the roars of as the two follow suit; warily watching the girl.

Farther into the forest the two Titan shifters are still fighting. Eren falters for a moment, thinking back to the day's events and regretting it greatly. How he could've transformed earlier, how because of him, everyone died. Rage begins to build up again however, as he remembers, _She was the one who killed them._ His hands weren't healed yet causing him to be at a disadvantage and the Female Titan to flip him off of her. He continuously punches at her again as she dodges. Finally taking the offense, she crystalizes her arm and punches him straight in the mouth, but to no affect. He punches her straight in the gut sending her flying. She quickly gets up and uppercuts him, sending his head flying off. She open her mouth wide and bites off the remaining neck flesh revealing Eren, and eventually eating Eren too.

"**Eren!**" Mikasa and Josephine scream. (She ended up going way ahead of the Sarah and Levi.)

Josephine quickly jumps off the branch and towards the Female Titan, "**I'm not losing anymore people!**" She yells. Mikasa tails right behind her. Together they both start slashing at the Female Titan. Frustrated, Josephine gets a lot of momentum (plus her Awakening eyes is activated) and kicks the Female Titan in the leg, causing her to fall. Mikasa looks at her in awe just for a moment before launching towards the Titan's nape. It crystalizes it causing Mikasa's blades to break.

"Why won't my blade penetrate? No matter, I'm going to kill you. I know Eren's still in there. I know he's still alive. I'm sorry Eren, but it looks like you have to be stuck in that disgusting beat a little longer." Mikasa hisses as she changes her blades. While Josephine never stopped trying to break through the barrier at it's neck. By constantly kicking it, by getting it distracted and trying to hit at the same time, but to no avail.

"**I'm going to kill you! You've caused so many deaths! You've taken one of my best friends! I'm going to avenge them! Every last one of them. I'm going to get him back, even if it means tearing you apart! I'm going to kill you!**" Josephine screams at it. Suddenly Mikasa gets picked up by Levi, and Josephine by Sarah.

"What are you doing let go!" They both hiss.

"Calm down Jo! I'm trying to save your life here!" Sarah scolds. Josephine calms down slightly.

"Fall back for now." Levi orders. Mikasa and Josephine get back to their maneuver gear, "Maintain this distance. It may be tired, it's not running very fast. He was bitten right out of the neck. Is Eren dead?" Levi asks. Mikasa grits her teeth.

"No. He isn't. I believe he isn't, he got eaten by a Titan before. Even had limbs severed, but when she ate him, she ate him whole. So I have a strong feeling that maybe... _He's still alive._" Josephine responds.


	19. Chapter 19

"He's definitely alive." Mikasa sternly agrees with her, "The target appears intelligent, and it's goal appears to be capturing Eren. If it wanted him dead she would've crushed him."

"It's goal might've been to eat Eren, if that's the case he's in it's stomach. It's more reasonable to assume he's dead." Levi suggests.

"_**He's alive.**_" Mikasa and Josephine retort.

"I hope you two are right." Levi responds.

"This wouldn't have happened if you guys protected Eren." Mikasa scowls.

"Don't you think we tried?! That kid's so stubborn! You'd think he'd listen to us?!" Sarah retorts.

"I expected more from you, Joy. You promised." Mikasa hisses towards her.

"What do you think I was doing just then with you? I was trying to save his ass just like you were! I didn't know what happened after I hit that tree, I just knew he was gone, _**so don't blame me for this shit Mikasa.**_" Josephine hisses eyes still blazing red.

"I see… So you were the one from court long ago. The close friend of Eren's," Levi says turning to Mikasa. She looks at him surprised, "We'll limit ourselves to one goal. First give up on killing the Female Titan."

"It killed so many of our comrades!" Josephine objects.

"As long as it has the power to harden it's skin, we can't kill it with our swords. Do as I say. We'll pin our hopes on Eren being alive, and tear him out before it escapes the forest. Sarah and Joy, you two distract it while Mikasa and I tear it apart." Levi orders, as they nod. With that they disperse; Sarah begins swinging by the Titan's feet bringing her attention downwards, shouting profanities at it. While Josephine uses captivate and swings toward it's eyes actively causing the Titan's eyes to follow. Levi and Mikasa quickly go in front of her and slash out the Titan's eyes. From there, they all begin slashing at the titan's body (despite Levi's orders for only Mikasa and him to do it). Levi and Josephine (who re-activated awaken) are lashing out at the Titan in quick precise cuts that the Titan doesn't have time to harden it's skin; causing it to release it's hands from it's nape and lower it's head.

_'I can go for it's neck! I bet it's so tired it can't even move… I'll kill it!'_ Mikasa thinks to herself before launching herself towards it's neck.

"**Stop!**" Levi orders, but she refuses to listen. The Female Titan raises it's hand to block her; Levi pushes Mikasa out of the way, but lands the wrong way on his ankle! He 'tchs' but quickly cuts up the mouth revealing Eren.

"Eren!" Josephine and Mikasa shout. Josephine quickly kicks down the Female Titan's hands, as Sarah goes to catch Levi, and launches herself towards the Titan's mouth. She quickly grabs Eren and launches herself to where Levi and Sarah are perched.

"**Hey! We're getting out of here!**" Levi calls Mikasa attention. Mikasa stares at them in awe of their skill, and at Eren.

"He's alive, just really gross and filthy," Josephine reassures her.

"Hurry up!" Sarah calls to Mikasa, as she launches herself forward.

"Don't lose your main objective. What's more important? He's an important friend isn't he?" Levi scolds before launching himself forward as well, soon everyone is back in the sky.

Back in Wall Rose news is traveling fast about the survey corps' quick return.

"They're returning already?"

"What happened?"

"They'll probably bring back so many dead bodies…"

While the majority of the people doubt, the families of the brave Levi unit shine bright with the hope of their loved ones return…

Before returning the Survey Corps stops and camps for a moment. Letting the horses eat and drink, letting the injured quickly get patched, collect the dead... Levi squats before his team and one by one collects their badges.

"This is the part I'll never get used to.." Josephine says as she loads another body onto a cart.

"No one does." Sarah reassures her.

"How many more friends do I have to see die? How am I going to die? It's all I can think about.." Josephine's brows furrow as she tries to hold back tears.

Sarah lays a reassuring hand on Josephine's shoulder, "Try not to think about it. If you do you won't be able to fight properly!"

"Right…" Josephine softly responds.

Connie and Sasha are feeding the horses when Connie suddenly asks, "How long will I be alive?"

"You're alive now aren't you? That's a good thing isn't it?" Sasha softly replies.

"Can you really say that in front of the bodies that aren't?" Connie replies. All was quiet after that, as everyone mourned for their lost comrades. All but one.

"We've recovered all but give bodies. The Titans also seem not to be headed this way sir." A man reports.

"I see. Label them as missing in action, and we'll head out now." Erwin orders.

"**Commander! I will not stand for this!**" A cadet calls his attention, "**We should recover them! His body was right in front of us! We could've saved him!**"

"**There was a Titan right next to him! It would've cause another casualty!**" One retorts.

"**We could just fight them off!**" The cadet retorts.

"Squabbling kids?" Levi says calmly as he approaches them, "If you've claimed he's dead that should be enough. Whether there's a body or not, dead is dead. It won't change anything."

"I'll name your friend Ivan and the others missing. Give it up." Erwin says.

As soon as they're out of sight the two stubborn cadets grab their horses, and set off to find their friend.

The ride back was a long and quiet one.  
Until someone yells, "_**Titans!**_" Warning everybody. As everyone turns they see two Titans chasing the two soldiers who decided to go back and find their friend. A red smoke flare is fired, signaling 'Titans' to the front.

"**Onward at full speed!**" Erwin orders.

"I don't see any trees or buildings fighting out here would be difficult." Levi says.

"We're better off out running them to the walls." Erwin responds as Levi tchs.

Back in the rear they get ready to engage into battle with the Titans. As one goes for Dieter (the cadet who disobeyed orders); the other goes for the cart. Josephine tchs and quickly leads her horse towards the Titans as Sarah follows.

"**What are you doing?!**" Sarah asks.

"I'm going to kill it! I haven't gotten to all day!" Josephine replies giving a wicked smile.

Sarah smirks, "I like the way you think." With that they quickly latch onto each Titan's body slaying it. One after the other as much as they can, before Josephine's vision begins to blur.

'_Crap! Did I use my eye abilities too much?!_' Josephine thinks to herself.

"What are you doing?! Get back in formation, don't kill unnecessarily we don't anymore casualties!" Levi scolds the two. They both quickly get onto their horses as Levi rides back up to the carts.

"They're going to reach us!" A soldier in the carts yells.

Josephine and Sarah ride up to them, "We'll take care of-"

"No," Levi interrupts them, "Just abandon the bodies."

"Levi!" Sarah scolds.

"Many bodies haven't made it back before. These guys aren't an exception." He replies.

"A-are we really doing this?" One asks.

The other grits his teeth, "We have no choice!" Everyone watches from the corner of their eyes in horror, as one by one their comrades are getting thrown out of the cart. Josephine catches sight of Petra, her once warm cheery eyes cold and hollow, get thrown out the cart. It takes all her will power not to scream and go back for her. She slaps a hand over her mouth and shuts her eyes tight.

As they keep moving forward they all eventually outrun the Titans and camp out yet again. Levi approaches Dieter as the cadet fumbles to apologize, "Captain Levi! I-"

Levi reaches into his cloak and interrupts him, "This proves they were alive. To me at least." Levi hands him the Wings of Freedom badge of his friend Ivan. Dieter's hands begin to shake and he can't help but cry. With that, Levi leaves him to his sorrows.

Sarah walks up to Dieter and gives him a swift slap to the face, "**You deserve it.**" She sternly says, before riding back up to Levi, "He was a total dumbass for doing what he did," Levi just remains silent, "but I guess we do stupid things for the ones we care about... It's okay to cry you know." Sarah reassures him. He doesn't even look at her. She grits her teeth in frustration and rides in front of him, blocking his path with her horse, "**Levi.**" She says sternly. He looks at we blankly. "**Just let me know you're okay damn it!**" She yells at him. Not a single muscle moves one Levi's face. He just simply maneuvers his way around her, and keeps moving forward.

She groans, "Y**ou're fucking '_Banchou_' is annoying as hell!**" She complains to Josephine, who's sitting on a log.

"He's been in the Survey corps for awhile, he's probably used to death… Or rather how to keep how he feels about it hidden."

Sarah sighs, "Hey, you okay by the way? You've been grasping at your head for awhile now."

"Yeah, I'm fine just really tired." Josephine sighs.

"Aww come on! Not you too! Tell me how you _really_ feel! Don't be like fucking Levi!" Sarah says irritated.

Josephine laughs slightly at the realization, "I guess I do bottle things up a little huh?"

"Yes. Yes you do. I swear are you sure you aren't related to Levi?" Sarah jokingly asks, "But for real, are you okay?"

Josephine takes a deep breath, "No. I'm not. My head hurts like hell, and my vision goes from clear as day to 'what the fuck am I looking at?' Plus… I miss them. All of them... I wish I could see them one last time.. I wish I could help everyone find closure.. I wish I could find it."

'_Finally_.' the voice rings in her head one last time.

Josephine suddenly grips at her head groaning, tears threatening to spill, "**My head!- It- It feels like it's _splitting!_**" She wails, her vision soon blurs into nothingness as she collapses on the floor.

"**Jo! Jo! Hey! Don't don't so this bullshit again!**" She yells as she slaps Josephine's cheeks, but to no avail. She grits her teeth in frustration, "You better not be fucking dead!" She wails as she checks for Josephine's pulse. _Good._ She has one. They quickly load her into the cart as they set out forward again.

**Eren's POV:**

"You shouldn't join the survey corps." I hear Mikasa say.

"Why? You'd rather live here caged all day?!" I retort.

"That's not-" The bells ring signaling the survey corps' return.

"Come on! Let's go see the heroes!" I excitedly say dragging her along. We finally reach the gate and I look in horror at all the battered soldiers. Everyone murmuring to themselves about how awful they are. I can't bear it. I grab a piece of firewood, ready to strike, but I stop. I can't cause a scene here. I know it isn't true! But-

"Eren?" A voice calls to me.

"Eren!" It calls again. My eyes shoot open, I'm in a cart Mikasa's with me.

"Eren?" Mikasa calls out to me. I quickly try to sit up.

"You probably shouldn't move for awhile." Mikasa tells me.

"The Female Titan?!" I ask with urgency.

"It got away." Mikasa hesitantly replies.

I look around and notice their were no wrapped bodies in the cart, just A few supplies and Mikasa and Joy; her head laying on Mikasa's lap, "Why? What about the others? What about the plan? Is- is she alive?" I stutter out looking towards Joy, I dread the answer, but- _I have to know_.

Mikasa looks down at Joy's head on her lap and gingerly brushes a few stray hairs from her face, "She's alive but.. The plan failed." She looks towards me again, sympathy in her eyes, "Don't think about it for now. You need to rest."

I put my head down in shame, "What is this? I was saved again?" I choke out.

Mikasa buries her face into her scarf, "We're almost to the walls."

**3rd POV:**

When they finally make it into the gates, all they receive is jeers. Eren grits his teeth in frustration as he struggles to get up. He stops when he sees the two little kids from this morning, that saw them off, still smiling and admiring them. Just like when he did as a kid. He slumps down in shame. All around everyone's head hung down in sorrow.

"Captain Levi! My daughter's in your unit! I'm Petra's father!" He cheerily calls out to Levi, "She sent me this letter and said such great things about you! She said she was going to devote her life to you! I guess she's a little starry-eyed to consider how her father feels. I think she's still a little to young to marry!" Levi can't bear to look at him he just looks straight ahead not uttering a single word.

"Excuse me?" Sarah calls Petra's father's attention, "Your daughter she.." She looks down toward her feet, "…Petra Ral of the Levi unit fought well, but… unfortunately died in battle." Tears begin to well up in both Petra's father and Sarah's eyes. "She was a wonderful person, and I'm glad to have met her for even a moment." Sarah reassures him. He stops walking along side them and begins wailing, as the towns people continue to jeer.

Sarah grits her teeth, she can't take it anymore, "**Like you guys know! Do you have any idea what bullshit we had to go through?!**" Sarah screams at the townspeople. Josephine's fingers twitch.

"Shut up." Levi scolds under his breath.

"**No. I will not shut up. Saying that they're wasting money on us, when they don't have the slightest idea of what it's like out there!**" Josephine's brows furrow, before she opens her eyes and struggles to get up.

"Joy! Don't get up! You're still injured!" Mikasa scolds.

Josephine shakes her head, "I- I don't care!" She stutters out and struggles to crawl to the end of the cart. Her vision still blurry beyond compare and her the world spinning; she grips the end of the cart and yells, "**Stop stating the obvious! We know lives were lost, we know we didn't come back successful. It's hell out there, it's just not that simple! We messed up. But don't act like just because we fucked up we're horrible people.**" 'T_hey need to hear this. Every last one of them._' Josephine thought to herself. _Captivate_. "**Don't act like we're horrible heartless people just because we fucked up. _We're still human damn it!_ We care if our comrades are lost and we make mistakes! Please-**" she begins to cough violently, she crouches down behind the gate of the cart and brings a hand to her mouth and one on the floor as she continues.

"_**Joy!**_" Mikasa, Eren and Sarah gasp.

Josephine flops over and is gasping for breath as she looks at her hand, _blood_. With that she slowly re-shuts her eyes.

Though unconscious, she thought to herself, '_I want to help, them. I want to help them find closure. I want closure._'


End file.
